Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
Our objectives in Instrument design & development are to improve the QUALITY OF THE DATA which can be obtained and presented to a computer system for analysis and to explore the corresponding choices which such improved data quality allows.
In usual EDXRF systems, the detector views the entire scattered and fluorescence radiation from a sample illuminated either by a direct beam or by a secondary target. In either case, the beam may be filtered before it strikes the specimen. Most efforts to mono-chromatize the exciting radiation or to reduce the background under the fluorescent peaks from the sample result in (a) decreases in X-ray flux available for excitation, (b) significant increases in power expended in the X-ray tube, or (c) extremely close coupling of the system components. These are NOT THE ONLY CHOICES AVAILABLE.