More Than One Ever Wanted To Know About X-ray Detectors Part V: Wavelength - The "Other" Spectroscopy

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The use of x-ray spectrometry in electron microscopy has been a powerful market driver not only for electron microscopes but also for x-ray spectrometers. More x-ray spectrometers are sold with electron microscopes than in any other configuration. A general name for the combination is AEM, or analytical electron microscope, though in modern times AEM can include other instrumentation such as electron energy loss spectroscopy and visible light spectroscopy. In previous articies I have discussed energy dispersive spectrometers (EDS). These use semiconductor crystals to detect the x-rays and measure the energy deposited in the crystal. A second type of x-ray spectrometer measures the wavelength of the x-rays, and so is called "wavelength dispersive spectrometry" (WDS).