Taking into Account the Surface Roughness in the Electron-Probe Energy-Dispersive Analysis of Powder Materials

The features of the electron-probe energy-dispersive spectra of several powder materials are studied. Comparing the experimental results with published data, it is established that the effect of a difference in absorption is the main factor that affects the results of quantitative analysis. To describe the peculiarities of attenuation of the intensity of X-ray photons in powders, a theoretical absorption model is proposed and tested. In the described model, the surface of a sample is considered to be a combination of a large number of randomly oriented planes. The experimental data and simulation results are compared by analyzing the ratio of diagnostic-line intensities. The proposed model of attenuation of the characteristic radiation intensity in the powders agrees well with the experimental data. A mathematical method for taking into account the surface roughness can be used in computer algorithms for simulating the characteristic X-ray radiation and can be included in software for electron-probe analysis as an additional corrector in calculation of the elemental composition of the powder materials.