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

Errors in quantitative electron microprobe analysis arise from many sources including those associated with sampling, specimen preparation, instrument operation, data collection, and analysis. The relative magnitudes of some of these factors are assessed for a sample of NiAl used to demonstrate important concerns in the analysis of even a relatively simple system measured under standard operati...

The preparation, synthesis, and characterization of Corning trace-element glasses 95IRV, 95IRW, and 95IRX by bulk chemical and electron microprobe techniques is discussed. Working values for the doped elements in the 95-series glasses are established. Blank values have been determined by both bulk chemical and electron microprobe analysis, and important x-ray interferences are highlighted. Chem...

As part of the Microbeam Analysis Society (MAS) symposium marking 50 years of electron microprobe analysis, this article reviews the important advances made over the decades to the automation of data collection and computerized analysis of data from the electron microprobe. Out of many innovations that contributed to the advance of microprobe automation, we have chosen to focus on a few develop...

An etch resistance phase was found in dental silver amalgam when the amalgam was examined metallographically. This phase was common to the silver alloy ingot as well as to its prepared amalgam. Qualitative electron microprobe technics were used to identify this phase. Quantitative electron microprobe analysis defined it as the R' phase of the copper-tin system or the intermetallic compound Cu6Sn5.

A peak-to-background method was implemented for standardless electron microprobe analysis of bulk samples and particles. First, a study on the choice of the beam entry point was performed; the region of the particle closest to the detector proved to be the most convenient. Then, a very simple algorithm, which does not require any kind of standard, was developed for particle analysis. This metho...

Plagioclase feldspar, clinopyroxene, and ilmenite in a polished thin section of a type A crystalline rock were analyzed. The clinopyroxene grains are compositionally variable, and both high Ca and low Ca phases are present. The plagioclase is compositionally homogeneous. The ilmenite is chemically homogeneous except for occasional, small areas of high local chromium concentration. Accessory min...

Elsebeth Schröder, Roman Fasel, and Adam Kiejna Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg University, SE-41296 Göteborg, Sweden Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA), nanotech@surfaces Laboratory, Feuerwerkerstrasse 39, CH-3602 Thun, Switzerland Institute of Experimental Physics, University of Wrocław, Plac M. Borna 9, PL-50-204...