Corrections in Quantitative Analysis

Where / and 70 are the characteristic X-ray intensities measured from the unknown specimen and standard respectively, and I/IQ is commonly known as the k ratio . Co is the concentration of the element concerned in the standard. 

The composition of the analysed point is calculated from the corrected intensities by applying matrix corrections which take account of a number of factors 

t arises from absorption of characteristic X-rays emerging from the specimen, F allows for an enhancement of the characteristic X-ray intensity due to fluorescence, 

Fb accounts for a loss of X-ray intensity arising from some of the incident electrons being backscattered out of the specimen, and 

Fs is the stopping power factor. Electron penetration is a function not only of the incident electron energy (which is constant for a given analysis) but also on the stopping power of the sample, which depends somewhat on atomic number. Reed (1993) derives equations for the generated characteristic X-ray intensity, leading to expressions for Fs. 

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