Development of soft X-ray emission spectrometer for EPMA/SEM and its application

A newly developed wavelength-dispersive soft X-ray emission spectrometer (WD-SXES) with two kinds of gratings, JS50XL and JS200N, were installed on electron probe microanalysers (EPMA) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). The new detector covers the energy range from 50 to 210 eV with an energy resolution of better than 0.2 eV at Al-L emission on Al metal. With this low energy range and high energy resolution, various kinds of X-ray lines of K, L, M, N emission spectra from lithium to uranium could be observed and chemical state analysis carried out. This WD-SXES has also a high potential for analysing trace light elements under 100 ppm. The design, having no mechanically scanning components, allows parallel spectral acquisition over the entire energy range of each grating (50 to 170 eV and 70 to 210 eV).