Abstract
The accuracy of quantitative analysis was evaluated extensively for a commercial SEM with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer.
For acquiring reliable X-ray spectra for quantitative analysis, several improvements of electron and X-ray collimation systems were required to eliminate extraneous X-rays excited due to scattered electrons and fluorescing X-rays. In the spectrum processing procedure, theoretical model for prediction of the background distribution was modified to fit the observed spectrum even at low energy regions and the deconvolution routine for the overlapping X-ray peaks and the low energy tailing were also improved.
After these improvements, the absolute accuracy of analyses of 21 standard reference silicates (supplied from Smithsonian Museum) is found to be within ± 0.3%, which is comparable to the best measurements with conventional wavelength dispersive EPMA.
Applications of this energy dispersive EPMA to some mineralogical problems in the iron and steelmaking process are reported.
