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Impact of 40 Years of Technology Advances on EDS System Performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2009

Jon McCarthy ,
John Friel  and
Patrick Camus
Jon McCarthy*
Affiliation:
Materials Science Center, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
John Friel
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA
Patrick Camus
Affiliation:
Marketing and Application Group, Thermo Fisher Scientific, 5225 Verona Rd., Madison, WI 53711, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: jjmccarthy@wisc.edu
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Abstract

The rapid advance and falling costs of computing power and data storage during the last 40 years have greatly enhanced the data reduction speed and analytical capacity of energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) systems. At the same time, the solid state X-ray detector [until recently, the Si(Li) diode] has seen performance increases due to the use of advanced materials and processing techniques. In addition, the performance of the electronic components (field effect transistor, preamp, and pulse processor) of an EDS system has been constantly improved. These technology advances have resulted in improved spectral quality, excellent light element detection, and increased count rate performance. The results have been truly remarkable and driven by the needs of the analyst. This article will summarize the progress made in these areas in the last 40 years and make a brief reference to prospects for future development in EDS system performance.

Keywords

microbeam analysisX-ray microanalysisenergy dispersive spectroscopySi(Li) detectorFETincomplete charge collectionsilicon drift detectors
Type
Special Section: 40 Years of EDS
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 15 , Issue 6 , December 2009 , pp. 484 - 490
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2009

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