Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

The peak positions are predicted by the Moseley's law with accuracy much better than experimental resolution of a typical EDX instrument.

Hazards and Safety The excess energy of the electron that migrates to an inner shell to fill the newly created hole can do more than emit an X-ray.

[3] Often, instead of X-ray emission, the excess energy is transferred to a third electron from a further outer shell, prompting its ejection.

[3] X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is another close relative of EDS, utilizing ejected electrons in a manner similar to that of AES.

[citation needed] EDS is often contrasted with its spectroscopic counterpart, wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDS).

WDS differs from EDS in that it uses the diffraction of X-rays on special crystals to separate its raw data into spectral components (wavelengths).

The advantage lies in the extremely low capacitance of this anode, thereby utilizing shorter processing times and allowing very high throughput.

Further benefits of large area chips include:[citation needed] Where the X-ray energies of interest are in excess of ~ 30 keV, traditional silicon-based technologies suffer from poor quantum efficiency due to a reduction in the detector stopping power.

The EDS microcalorimeter has historically suffered from a number of drawbacks, including low count rates and small detector areas.

However, the count rate and detector area have been improved by the implementation of arrays of hundreds of superconducting EDS microcalorimeters, and the importance of this technology is growing.

EDS spectrum of the mineral crust of the vent shrimp Rimicaris exoculata [ 1 ] Most of these peaks are X-rays emitted when electrons return to the K electron shell ( K-alpha and K-beta lines). One peak is from the L shell of iron.
Principle of EDS