Total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometers for multielement analysis: status of equipment

Multielement analysis by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry has evolved during two decades. At present commercial equipment is available for chemical analysis of all types of biological and mineral samples. The electronic industry has also benefited from scientific and technological developments in this field due to new instrumentation to determine contamination on the surface of silicon wafers (the equipment will not be covered in this paper). The basic components of the spectrometers can be summarized as follows: (a) excitation source; (b) geometric arrangement (optics) for collimation and monochromatization of the primary radiation; (c) X-ray detector; and (d) software for operation of the instrument, data acquisition and spectral deconvolution to determine the concentrations of the elements (quantitative analysis). As an optional feature one manufacturer offers a conventional 45° geometry for direct excitation. Personal communications of the author and commercial brochures available have allowed us to list the components used in TXRF for multielement analysis. Excitation source: high-power sealed X-ray tubes, output from 1300 to 3000 W, different mixed alloy anodes Mo/W are used but molybdenum, tungsten and copper are common; single anode metal ceramic low power X-ray tubes, output up to 40 W. Excitation systems can be customized according to the requirements of the laboratory. Detector: silicon–lithium drifted semiconductor detector liquid nitrogen cooled; or silicon solid state thermoelectrically cooled detector (silicon drift detector SDD and silicon-PIN diode detector). Optics: multilayer monochromator of silicon–tungsten, nickel–carbon or double multilayer monochromator. Electronics: spectroscopy amplifier, analog to digital converter adapted to a PC compatible computer with software in a Windows environment for the whole operation of the spectrometer and for qualitative/quantitative analysis of samples are standard features in the production of this instrument. The detection limits reported in the literature are presented; pricing, analytical capability, ease of operation, calibration and optical alignment as well as technical support are also discussed.