This work proposes a new consistency check total based on measurement of bremsstrahlung intensity which can be used to validate analyses even when concentrations have been normalised to 100%.
If elemental content of a material is unknown, spectral peaks have to be identified, either interactively, or by automatic procedures. When peak overlap is severe (e.g. Si K/ Ta M / W M, Al K/Br L), it is easy for an element to be misidentified or missed altogether and at low beam kV, some elements will not even produce a characteristic line suitable for analysis. When element identification or quantification requires deconvolution of closely spaced lines, minor miscalibration or inaccurate peak modelling produces inaccurate peak area estimates, Ai, instead of true peak areas, Ai*, and consequently inaccurate concentration estimates, Ci* . A common consistency check is to confirm that the analysis total is close to unity: