Lowering the limit of detection in high spatial resolution electron beam microanalysis with the microcalorimeter energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer

• Published in: Ultramicroscopy 1999-06, Vol.78 (1), p.73-88
• Main Authors: Newbury, Dale, Wollman, David, Irwin, Kent, Hilton, Gene, Martinis, John
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemical composition analysis, chemical depth and dopant profiling; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Electron probe X-ray microanalysis; Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry; Exact sciences and technology; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Materials science; Materials testing; Microanalysis; Microcalorimetry; Physics; Scanning electron microscopy; X- and γ-ray instruments and techniques; X- and γ-ray spectrometers; X-ray and γ-ray spectrometers; X-ray microanalysis; X-ray spectrometry
• ISSN: 0304-3991; 1879-2723
• DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3991(99)00028-5

Low-beam-energy X-ray microanalysis with the field-emission-gun scanning electron microscope suffers limitations due to physical factors of X-ray generation. Instrumental limitations are imposed by the poor resolution of the conventional semiconductor energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry. Wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry provides sufficient resolution to solve spectroscopic problems, but the poor geometric efficiency and the single channel nature of spectrum measurement restrict its practical use for low-beam-energy microanalysis. The microcalorimeter energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer combines high resolution (