Contribution of bremsstrahlung of free electrons to formation of the background component for NaK X-ray fluorescence

Bremsstrahlung of free electrons (photo, Auger and Compton electrons) that occur in an irradiated sample is compared with probable components of the radiation background, such as diffuse scattering of the sample radiation by the analyzing crystal, X-ray fluorescence of the analyzing crystal and high orders of Bragg's reflection of the polychromatic primary radiation scattered in the sample under study. The comparison is performed within a range of NaKα line. It is revealed that response functions, represented by experimental intensities of background samples, are in good agreement with calculated summary values of the background intensity. The contributions of bremsstrahlung of free electrons to the formation of the background component of the analytical signal are estimated within the considered range of the X-ray fluorescence spectrum. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.