LOWERING THE LIMITS OF DETECTION OF X-RAY-FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS IN THE ELECTRON-MICROSCOPE

A transmission-type attachment for energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence analysis was developed. The attachment was designed for analysis to be carried out in a CAMEBAX microanalyzer, where the energy-dispersive spectrometer detector views the specimen through a hole in the objective lens and the space between the specimen and the pole piece of the objective lens is fairly small. Nevertheless, this type of attachment can be applied in other microanalyzers or scanning electron microscopes. Detection limits between 0.5 and 5 ppm on SRM 612 glass (NIST) and the applicability to the analysis of small particles (SRM 470 glass sphere 90 mum in diameter) are demonstrated.