Evaluating the Performance of a Commercial Silicon Drift Detector for X-ray Microanalysis

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2011 · Microscopy Today

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/S1551929511000241· OSTI ID:1056891

Kenik, Edward A ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Silicon drift detectors (SDDs) are rapidly becoming the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) of choice, especially for scanning electron microscopy x-ray microanalysis. The complementary features of large active areas (i.e., high collection angle) and high count rate capability of these detector contribute to their popularity, as well as the absence of liquid nitrogen cooling and good energy resolution of these detectors. The performance of an EDAX Apollo 40 SDD on a JEOL 6500F SEM is discussed. The larger detector resulted in an significant increase (~3.5x) in geometric collection efficiency compared to the original 10mm2 Si(Li) detector that it replaced. The SEM can provide high beam currents (up to 200nA in some conditions) at small probe diameters. The high count rate capability of the SDD and the high current capability of the SEM compliment each other and provide excellent EDS analytical capabilities for both single point and spectrum imaging applications.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL); Shared Research Equipment Collaborative Research Center
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1056891
• Journal Information: Microscopy Today, Journal Name: Microscopy Today Journal Issue: 03 Vol. 19; ISSN 1551-9295
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

collection efficiency
energy resolution
pulse pile-up
silicon drift detector
sum peaks
throughput
x-ray microanalysis