title: Determination of the Effective Detector Area of an Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer at the Scanning Electron Microscope Using Experimental and Theoretical X-Ray Emission Yields.
abstract: A method is proposed to determine the effective detector area for energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometers (EDS). Nowadays, detectors are available for a wide range of nominal areas ranging from 10 up to 150 mm2. However, it remains in most cases unknown whether this nominal area coincides with the "net active sensor area" that should be given according to the related standard ISO 15632, or with any other area of the detector device. Moreover, the specific geometry of EDS installation may further reduce a given detector area. The proposed method can be applied to most scanning electron microscope/EDS configurations. The basic idea consists in a comparison of the measured count rate with the count rate resulting from known X-ray yields of copper, titanium, or silicon. The method was successfully tested on three detectors with known effective area and applied further to seven spectrometers from different manufacturers. In most cases the method gave an effective area smaller than the area given in the detector description.
authors: 1Division 6.1 Surface Analysis and Interfacial Chemistry,Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM),12200 Berlin,Germany.
authors: Mathias
authors: M
authors: Procop
authors: 1Division 6.1 Surface Analysis and Interfacial Chemistry,Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM),12200 Berlin,Germany.
authors: Vasile-Dan
authors: VD
authors: Hodoroaba
authors: 2Bruker Nano GmbH,12489 Berlin,Germany.
authors: Ralf
authors: R
authors: Terborg
authors: 3Center for Electron Microscopy (ZELMI),Technical University of Berlin,10623 Berlin,Germany.
authors: Dirk
authors: D
authors: Berger
keywords: EDX; X-ray emission yield; effective area; energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS); geometrical collection efficiency