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A Method to Test the Performance of an Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometer (EDS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2014

Vasile-Dan Hodoroaba  and
Mathias Procop
Vasile-Dan Hodoroaba*
Affiliation:
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Division 6.8 Surface Analysis and Interfacial Chemistry, 12200 Berlin, Germany
Mathias Procop
Affiliation:
Institute for Scientific Instruments, Rudower Chaussee 29/31, 12489 Berlin, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Dan.Hodoroaba@bam.de
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Abstract

A test material for routine performance evaluation of energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometers (EDS) is presented. It consists of a synthetic, thick coating of C, Al, Mn, Cu, and Zr, in an elemental composition that provides interference-free characteristic X-ray lines of similar intensities at 10 kV scanning electron microscope voltage. The EDS energy resolution at the C-K, Mn-Lα, Cu-Lα, Al-K, Zr-Lα, and Mn-Kα lines, the calibration state of the energy scale, and the Mn-Lα/Mn-Kα intensity ratio as a measure for the low-energy detection efficiency are calculated by a dedicated software package from the 10 kV spectrum. Measurements at various input count rates and processor shaping times enable an estimation of the operation conditions for which the X-ray spectrum is not yet corrupted by pile-up events. Representative examples of EDS systems characterized with the test material and the related software are presented and discussed.

Keywords

energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS)energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX, XEDS)scanning electron microscope (SEM)energy resolutiontest materialperformance checkISO 15632
Type
Instrumentation and Techniques Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 20 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 1556 - 1564
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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