Development of small spot thickness capability on a conventional Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
Development of small spot thickness capability on a conventional Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Summary:
A critical step in fabrication of electronic parts is surface finishing, typically done with application of a thin metal coating. An important property of finishes is the thickness of the metal, which should comply with specification requirements to ensure product reliability. The thickness of metal coatings in industry is routinely determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. For conventional XRF instrumentation, typical focal spot sizes at the sample surface range in diameter from fractions of millimeters to few millimeters. With industry moving toward electronic parts of sub millimeter size, the need of capability that allows measuring small spot size becomes more and more prominent. However, micro XRF tools can be quite expensive. This paper addresses the cost problem by combining small spot thickness capability and bulk concentration capability in a conventional XRF. This is achieved with the implementation of a reduced diameter collimator (0.25 mm) on a conventional XRF tool.
A critical step in fabrication of electronic parts is surface finishing, typically done with application of a thin metal coating. An important property of finishes is the thickness of the metal, which should comply with specification requirements to ensure product reliability. The thickness of metal coatings in industry is routinely determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. For conventional XRF instrumentation, typical focal spot sizes at the sample surface range in diameter from fractions of millimeters to few millimeters. With industry moving toward electronic parts of sub millimeter size, the need of capability that allows measuring small spot size becomes more and more prominent. However, micro XRF tools can be quite expensive. This paper addresses the cost problem by combining small spot thickness capability and bulk concentration capability in a conventional XRF. This is achieved with the implementation of a reduced diameter collimator (0.25 mm) on a conventional XRF tool.