Electron Probe Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS)

Electron-probe X-ray fluorescence (EP-XRF) analysis has been widely used in scanning electron microscopy instrumentation for elemental analysis of specimens. In the SEM, the surface of a solid sample is excited with a highly-focused energetic beam of electrons, which induces X-ray fluorescence from the elements within the sample.

Polycapillary collimating optics can be used to direct emitted X-ray fluorescence as a parallel beam from the small electron excitation area to a flat crystal monochrometer to increase the diffracted beam intensity and therefore greatly increase the elemental discrimination and detection sensitivity.