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High‐resolution, energy‐dispersive microcalorimeter spectrometer for X‐ray microanalysis[Note 1. Contribution of the U.S. Government, not subject to copyright ...]
Author(s) -
WOLLMAN D. A.,
IRWIN K. D.,
HILTON G. C.,
DULCIE L. L.,
NEWBURY D. E.,
MARTINIS J. M.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
journal of microscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1365-2818
pISSN - 0022-2720
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2818.1997.2670824.x
Subject(s) - spectrometer , full width at half maximum , resolution (logic) , analyser , optics , detector , transition edge sensor , analytical chemistry (journal) , physics , chemistry , bolometer , chromatography , artificial intelligence , computer science
We have developed a prototype X‐ray microcalorimeter spectrometer with high energy resolution for use in X‐ray microanalysis. The microcalorimeter spectrometer system consists of a superconducting transition‐edge sensor X‐ray microcalorimeter cooled to an operating temperature near 100 mK by a compact adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator, a superconducting quantum interference device current amplifier followed by pulse‐shaping amplifiers and pileup rejection circuitry, and a multichannel analyser with computer interface for the real‐time acquisition of X‐ray spectra. With the spectrometer mounted on a scanning electron microscope, we have achieved an instrument response energy resolution of better than 10 eV full width at half‐maximum (FWHM) over a broad energy range at real‐time output count rates up to 150 s −1 . Careful analysis of digitized X‐ray pulses yields an instrument‐response energy resolution of 7.2 ± 0.4 eV FWHM at 5.89 keV for Mn Kα 1,2 X‐rays from a radioactive 55 Fe source, the best reported energy resolution for any energy‐dispersive detector.