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Determination of X‐ray fluorescence sample geometry from compton backscatter energy
Author(s) -
Nielson Kirk K.,
Rogers Vern C.,
Shuman Rob
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
x‐ray spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.447
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1097-4539
pISSN - 0049-8246
DOI - 10.1002/xrs.1300180207
Subject(s) - backscatter (email) , x ray fluorescence , sample (material) , position (finance) , energy (signal processing) , excitation , optics , compton scattering , plane (geometry) , physics , intensity (physics) , fluorescence , geometry , computational physics , scattering , mathematics , telecommunications , finance , quantum mechanics , computer science , economics , wireless , thermodynamics
Abstract A method was developed to determine automatically sample positions and correct peak intensities for sample positional variations in x‐ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis. Small shifts in Compton backscatter peak energy are accurately measured in the spectrum and used to compute the mean scatter angle, from which the effective scatter position is determined. New equations were derived to express fluorescent and scatter positions within samples, and to correct peak intensities for geometry variations in a sample of arbitrary thickness, position and composition. The method was validated with an energy‐dispersive XRF system with secondary excitation. With thin samples, the method corrected intensity errors of up to 69% to within 2%, and with samples of intermediate thickness it corrected errors of up to 83% to within 1.7%. The method is important in quantitative fundamental parameter calculations, such as the CEMAS method, which otherwise define the sample to lie in a pre‐determined plane.