The electron microprobe provides a complete micron-scale quantitative chemical analysis of inorganic solids. The method is nondestructive and utilizes characteristic x-rays excited by an electron beam, incident on a flat surface of the sample. This course will provide an introduction to the theory of x-ray microanalysis by wavelength and energy dispersive spectrometry (WDS and EDS), ZAF matrix ...

This article will discuss the importance of Raimond Castaing's thesis on the genesis of a nondestructive and truly quantitative microanalytical method that assisted the scientific community in moving forward in the development of microanalytical instruments. I will also share with you my recollection of the decades of improvement in the electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA), that has allowed us t...

Few other analytical methods have expanded so rapidly as electron probe microanalysis during the past 10 years. The number of elements that can be determined or detected extends from beryllium to uranium and concentrations in the range 0.1—100 per cent can be dealt with. This has been made possible by the introduction of new analysing crystals and counting systems. The application of computer p...