Filtern
Erscheinungsjahr
Dokumenttyp
- Zeitschriftenartikel (14)
Sprache
- Englisch (14)
Schlagworte
- BAMline (4)
- Synchrotron (3)
- Compound refractive lens (2)
- Imaging (2)
- TXRF (2)
- BESSY (1)
- Capillary (1)
- Coded Aperture (1)
- Coded aperture (1)
- Coded apertures (1)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
- 6 Materialchemie (6)
- 6.3 Strukturanalytik (6)
X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) experiments in fluorescence mode have been performed in total reflection excitation geometry and conventional 45°/45° excitation/detection geometry for comparison. The experimental results have shown that XAFS measurements are feasible under normal total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) conditions, i.e. on droplet samples, with excitation in grazing incidence and using a TXRF experimental chamber. The application of the total reflection excitation geometry for XAFS measurements increases the sensitivity compared to the conventional geometry leading to lower accessible concentration ranges. However, XAFS under total reflection excitation condition fails for highly concentrated samples because of the self-absorption effect.
A study regarding the possibility to use compound refractive lenses (CRLs) for X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was conducted. For XAS measurements the energy of the monochromatic incident beam has to be tuned over an energy range which is broader than the energy bandwidth of a CRL. To prove that µ-XAS with compound refractive lenses is possible, it had to be investigated how changes in the energy influence the beam parameters. This was done by tuning the energy around the nominal energy of the lens and recording images with a high resolution X-ray imaging setup. To investigate the changes in the spot size the scintillator was placed at the nominal focal distance and scans along the beam axis were performed. The effect on the photon flux of the incident beam due to absorption in the lens was investigated by performing XANES measurement on different reference materials with and without CRL. The results of these measurements using a CRL designed for 9 keV are shown and discussed.
We report on the trace analysis of copper and iron impurities in multicrystalline silicon wafers with the microbeam X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) technique. The efficiency of solar cells, which are based on multicrystalline silicon wafers, is strongly influenced by minor contamination with metals such as copper and iron. Application of compound refractive lenses (CRLs) in µ-XRF allows versatile two-dimensional mapping of relevant contaminations and localization of their sites of deposition. In this context, the measured bulk average limit of detection (LOD) was one picogram of iron and copper per gram of silicon. We suggest that µ-XRF is a valuable tool for non-destructive spatial (3D) quantification of metal impurities in a wide range of materials and devices whose functioning could be critically affected by impurities.
The use of polycapillary optics in confocal micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis (CMXRF) enables the destruction-free 3D investigation of the elemental composition of samples. The energy-dependent transmission properties, concerning intensity and spatial beam propagation of three polycapillary half lenses, which are vital for the quantitative interpretation of such CMXRF measurements, are investigated in a monochromatic confocal laboratory setup at the Atominstitut of TU Wien, and a synchrotron setup on the BAMline beamline at the BESSY II Synchrotron, Helmholtz-Zentrum-Berlin. The empirically established results, concerning the intensity of the transmitted beam, are compared with theoretical values calculated with the polycap software package and a newly presented analytical model for the transmission function.
The resulting form of the newly modelled energy-dependent transmission function is shown to be in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulated results for the complete energy regime, as well as the empirically established results for the energy regime between 6 keV and 20 keV. An analysis of possible fabrication errors was conducted via pinhole scans showing only minor fabrication errors in two of the investigated polycapillary optics. The energy-dependent focal spot size of the primary polycapillary was investigated in the laboratory via the channel-wise evaluation of knife-edge scans. Experimental results are compared with data given by the manufacturer as well as geometric estimations for the minimal focal spot size. Again, the resulting measurement points show a trend in agreement with geometrically estimated results and manufacturer data.
X-ray fluorescence imaging is a well-established tool in materials characterization. In this work, we present the adaption of coded aperture imaging to full-field X-ray fluorescence imaging at the synchrotron. Coded aperture imaging has its origins in astrophysics, and has several advantages: Coded apertures are relatively easy to fabricate, achromatic, allow a high photon throughput, and high angular acceptance. Coded aperture imaging is a two-step-process, consisting of the measurement process and a reconstruction step. Different programs have been written, for the raytracing/forward projection and the reconstruction. Experiments with coded aperture in combination with a Color X-ray Camera and an energy-dispersive area detector, have been conducted at the BAMline. Measured samples were successfully reconstructed, and gave a 9.1-fold increase in count rate compared to a polycapillary optic.
Absorption effects in total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis are important to consider, especially if external calibration is to be applied. With a color X-ray camera (CXC), that enables spatially and energy resolved XRF analysis, the absorption of the primary beam was directly visualized for mL-droplets and an array of pL-droplets printed on a Si-wafer with drop-on-demand technology. As expected, deposits that are hit by the primary beam first shade subsequent droplets, leading to a diminished XRF signal. This shading effect was quantified with enhanced precision making use of sub-pixel analysis that improves the spatial resolution of the camera. The measured absorption was compared to simulated results using three different model calculations. It was found they match very well (average deviation < 10%). Thus errors in quantification due to absorption effects can be accounted for in a more accurate manner.
The distribution and speciation of zinc were studied in the body of female specimens of the soil-inhabiting, plant-feeding nematode, Xiphinema vuittenezi treated with nano-ZnO and its bulk counterpart. Lyophilized nematodes were studied by X-ray absorption near edge structure spectrometry (XANES) in order to characterize the zinc speciation. Furthermore, in the cross-sections prepared by focused ion beam technique, elemental maps were obtained using the electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) technique. XANES spectra were collected from three different regions (head, midbody and tail region) of nematodes in case of two different treatments (50 mg/L bulk and nano-ZnO suspension, 24 h long treatment). The sample spectra were fitted by the spectra of several reference compounds, the main components of the fitted spectra are the following in all cases: bulk/nano-ZnO; ZnHis and Zn3(PO4)2 * xH2O. Consequently, partial biotransformation takes place for both treatments, histidine- and phosphate-rich ligands play dominant role in the binding of zinc. According to the result of the EPMA analysis, it can be established that the distribution of zinc correlates with the calcium and phosphorus distribution for both treatments. Considering the results of the investigations performed by the two microanalytical techniques, it is likely that calcium phosphate granules were formed in order to bind zinc and hereby to take part in zinc detoxification. Apparent difference in the behavior of bulk and nano-sized ZnO in the body of the investigated nematodes was not found.
An automatic sample changer chamber for total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) and X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) analysis in TXRF geometry was successfully set up at the BAMline at BESSY II. TXRF and TXRF-XANES are valuable tools for elemental determination and speciation, especially where sample amounts are limited (<1 mg) and concentrations are low (ng ml⁻¹ to μg ml⁻¹). TXRF requires a well defined geometry regarding the reflecting surface of a sample carrier and the synchrotron beam. The newly installed chamber allows for reliable sample positioning, remote sample changing and evacuation of the fluorescence beam path. The chamber was successfully used showing accurate determination of elemental amounts in the certified reference material NISTwater 1640. Low limits of detection of less than 100 fg absolute (10 pg ml⁻¹) for Ni were found. TXRF-XANES on different Re species was applied. An unknown species of Re was found to be Re in the +7 oxidation state.
Absorption effects and the impact of specimen shape on TXRF analysis has been discussed intensively. Model calculations indicated that ring shaped specimens should give better results in terms of higher counts per mass signals than filled rectangle or circle shaped specimens. One major reason for the difference in signal is shading effects. Full field micro-XRF with a color X-ray camera (CXC) was used to investigate shading, which occurs when working with small angles of excitation as in TXRF. The device allows monitoring the illuminated parts of the sample and the shaded parts at the same time. It is expected that sample material hit first by the primary beam shade material behind it. Using the CXC shading could be directly visualized for the high concentration specimens.
In order to compare the experimental results with calculation of the shading effect the generation of controlled specimens is crucial. This was achieved by 'drop on demand' technology. It allows generating uniform, microscopic deposits of elements. The experimentally measured shadings match well with those expected from calculation.
Imaging with X-rays is a challenging field, due to the optical properties of X-rays. The fabrication of appropriate optics is usually expensive and requires an elaborate manufacturing process. One simpler and less expensive possibility of imaging high energy radiation is coded aperture imaging, a technique well established in astrophysics and also used in nuclear medicine or radiation detection, e.g., for nuclear decommissioning. Our aim is to adapt coded aperture imaging for X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy in the nearfield. In this work we show theoretical considerations and preliminary simulations of Image formation through a coded aperture and three different reconstruction methods to prepare the experiments. We used a new mask based on an inverted modified uniformly redundant array (MURA) that could be used for the construction of a decoding mask for all investigated geometrical arrangements.
The most commonly used reconstruction method, convoluting the detected image with a Decoding mask, does not always deliver satisfactory results. This is more noticeable for small distances between the object, mask and detector. Hence, we developed two new reconstruction methods, one based on iterative algebraic optimization and another one based on a genetic algorithm. Both show good performance even in those cases where the convolution method fails. This provides a basis for further investigations of the ideal parameters for near field coded aperture imaging and refinements of the algorithms. We performed first measurements with a coded aperture at the BAMline at BESSY II and could successfully reconstruct a test object from the obtained recorded images.