Energy dispersive and wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry are used to determine the composition of a specimen in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) by electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). A valuable completion for the SEM is analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRFA). The main advantage of this method consists in its low detection limit. XRFA with a SEM uses the same spectrometers as for EPMA, necessary are only an additional X-ray source for the excitation of fluorescence spectra and software for their evaluation. Recent developments of smart low-power X-ray tubes and X-ray optical components enabled the construction of compact X-ray sources with focussing properties as add-on for a SEM. For quantitative XRFA the source spectrum has to be known. For its calculation the X-ray production yields Y have been measured for the commonly used tube target materials Mo, Rh and W. The excitation spectra were calculated for a variety of source types and compared with respect to the achievable photon flux and its spectral distribution.
A microfocus X-ray source mounted on the analysis chamber of an SEM was used to excite X-ray fluorescence spectra and to detect chemical elements with concentrations below the detection limit of the electron-excited X-ray spectra conventionally measured with SEM/EDS. An aluminium alloy and a hard material ceramics were analysed as representative examples. It is demonstrated that the combination of the three analytical methods: (1) SEM imaging for surface morphology characterisation; (2) electron-excited X-ray spectroscopy with its high spatial resolution for element analysis of inclusions or precipitates; and (3) X-ray fluorescence for the detection of elements with concentrations below 0.1 mass% considerably improves the performance of SEM/EDX analyses.