XRF Wiki
Welcome to the XRF Wiki. This Wiki is a repository of information contributed by members of [email protected]. Members can view and edit the pages. The pages are currently not viewable by the public. The pages below represent a rough overview of the technology and techniques associated with X-Ray Florescence Spectroscopy as well as serving as a place for members to organize the spectra that they have contributed to the forum.?
As a starting point, the pages will be populated by information taken from member posts from the past few years - with references/attribution. Perhaps in time, these pages can be edited by members to make them more complete and less choppy. Members can also edit this page, making the structure of the content more organized.?
Pages can contain information about a particular topic, links to relevant resources (such as manuals, research papers, etc.), links to relevant forum discussions on the topic, book titles, or anything that might be useful.
What follows is very much a work in progress.
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Adding to the Wiki
For those unfamiliar with the Wiki phenomenon, it is basically a user editable encyclopedia. The idea is that there are pages with different articles, which the user can read and also choose to edit if desired. If a piece of information is incorrect, a link outdated, or the presentation choppy or unclear, the user can just click "Edit Page" at the bottom and then fix the mistake. There is also a "Page History," so if you a user were to make a mistake or maliciously destroy a page (which wouldn't happen here) an editor can come along and restore the page to a previous version.?
If you have used MediaWiki (the engine that runs behind the scene of Wikipedia.org) you will be familiar with a certain style of creating an article. There are tags that one uses to change the formatting of the parts of the article. The Wiki on Groups.io uses a different background engine and so the standard MediaWiki syntax does not apply here. Rather, the page is edited using the same tools as one would use to compose a message on the forums. If you are a programmer or someone who likes using the tagged syntax directly, you can access the underlying page source code, be activating the advanced editing toolbar (the icon with three lines on the far right of the basic toolbar) and then clicking on the source code icon <> on the far right of the Advance Editing Toolbar. You will immediately notice that the underlying source code is HTML. Most things can be done just by using the various icons, but advanced features like table can only be implemented by manually writing the source code. (Although there are website available that will generate the source code for you through a graphical interface.)
Here are some useful resources from Groups.io:?
Wiki Guide for Users and Editors
Message Composition Tips and Tricks
Overview of XRF
X-Ray Florescence vs. X-Ray Diffraction
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Hardware
This section describes the hardware used for XRF. We will describe the basic theory of operation of each stage in the processing tool chain and then present different commercial systems that are available as these systems are often integrated together.
[Editor note: General theory needs to be in an independent page separate from specific manufacturer information.
[Editor note - question: Should this be arranged by category, e.g detectors, preamps, etc or by manufacturer with the manufacturers product line on one page. Perhaps it's best to put a list of products with theory but the details of the products on a manufacture page...]
Detectors?- what's available, theory of operation, tradeoffs
Detector Cooling?- keeping detectors cool to avoid thermal noise and keeping the TEC from overheating
Preamps?- theory of operation, brief summary of what out there (and what not to do - such as trying to use a PMT preamp for a SiPIN diode...)
Pulse Processing Theory - high level overview of the stages of going from detector pulse to channel peaks on the computer
Commercial Systems - many commercial systems are integrated so it seems to make sense to present, for example all Amptek products together. [question: are their other affordable integrated systems besides Amptek?]
Amptek XRF System
Activation Sources - what do you use to make the sample fluoresce (that's within the amateur budget and doesn't require special licensing)
Software
- Device Control Software - what do you use to collect the data from the detector system
- XRF Analysis Software - what do you use to analyze the data, especially for quantitative measurements (composition percentages, thin film measurement)
- Free Software Tools
Note: there may be software packages that possess some or all of these characteristics.
Materials Spectra
Metals Spectra
Historic/Archeological Spectra
Reference Materials Spectra
Household Objects Spectra
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Resources
Videos
Articles
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Non-XRF Techniques
Gamma Spectroscopy
Raman Spectroscopy
FTIR - Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Inductively Coupled Atomic Emission Spectroscopy
Spark Emission Spectroscopy
Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy
LIBS - Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
Photoacoustic Spectroscopy
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
"Why are you using a 17.74 Np Lb?"I do that because the middle peak is much easier to identify for me .I start with an Fe-55 source, which gives a usable peak in 3 or 4 seconds @5.9 keV, this also
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GEOelectronics@...
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#475
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
I need to let it run longer but right now it looks like the 59.5 peak is at 3486 instead of the 3494 indicated in Geo's calibration. The would account for the confusion at the top end over HfKa1=55.79
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Charles David Young
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#474
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
You¡¯ll need a really long run to pull anything out me thinks. Attached is the actual AM241 Okaklef.mca file spectra blown up and what could hardly be called peaks in ROI¡¯s There is no Ta or Hf
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Dude
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#473
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
when you can Charles, turn your Am button towards the Si-PIN and take a scan, then post the MCA,. We can check calibration that way. It only takes a few minutes, until the 59.5 shows a peak. Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#472
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Dud, Here is the .mca. I'll also do a longer run to get at least twice the counts. Regarding Ecal, Theremino is not doing that. The Ecal was done by Geo and I am using the two points that he provided:
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Charles David Young
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#471
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Geo, Charles is right here. Stretching the energy cal to fit is going to create big problems, Use a proper 3 pt or better Ecal and verify it. You should never normalize the peak heights (or anything
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Dude
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#470
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Charles , The spectra needs a lot more count time before one can say much about what¡¯s in it. Please don¡¯t overlay spectra it makes it hard to interpret, complicates everything and you can¡¯t see
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Dude
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#469
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Actually, the "polycrase" I sent you I have subsequently relabeled as uranpyrochlore based on your CdTe scan. https://www.mindat.org/photo-876282.html charlesdavidyoung@...> wrote:
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Charles David Young
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#468
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
The polycrase should have Ta.
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Charles David Young
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#467
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Good on all Charles. Right now the CdTe is online and I'm looking for Ta peaks by internal excitation........Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#466
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
George, Theremino actually has height equalizers for specific regions. I am not sure it is worth fooling with though. Just knowing that Si-PIN rolls off as the energy goes up is enough for me. I am
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Charles David Young
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#465
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Re: Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
Nice work Charles. That rock has a lot of visible features that remind me of the one I had that we were calling Columbite for lack of a better name at the time. What is the black material, and is it
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GEOelectronics@...
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#464
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Si-PIN of microlites from Hollister and Oak Leaf in CT
I bought a couple of nice microlites from Tony Albini a while back. One was actually identified as xenotime but my NaI scan showed a strong Ta presence so I proposed that it was actually microlite and
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Charles David Young
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#463
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Re: Silicon XRF
Those peaks are very small and not well shaped. They come from leakage and backscatter from the elements that make up the exciter head. I made it from brass (copper and zinc peaks), there is iron and
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GEOelectronics@...
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#457
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Re: Silicon XRF
Why is the ROI 6.05 to 6.45? it should bracket the Fe Ka. I¡¯d watch the temp and see if that drifts which could introduce noise. Dud. Sent: Saturday, January 11, 2020 8:03 AM To: [email protected]
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Dude
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#456
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Re: Silicon XRF
Will do longer soon Dud. The peak search shows FWHM @ Iron Ka as 0.145 = 145 eV Right on specs for this sensor. I got it cheap because it was new, warranty return complaint was "Not stable and FWHM @
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GEOelectronics@...
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#453
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Re: Silicon XRF
Run a longer count to smooth it up a bit. Sent: Friday, January 10, 2020 6:57 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [XRF] Silicon XRF Will see if it tells me FWHM tomorrow Dud. Geo
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Dude
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#452
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Re: Silicon XRF
Will see if it tells me FWHM tomorrow Dud. Geo
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GEOelectronics@...
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#451
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Re: Silicon XRF
Nice. What¡¯s the FWHM? Dud Sent: Friday, January 10, 2020 5:25 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [XRF] Silicon XRF A nice peak from pure silicon, the sample is 1 3/4" diameter slice of pure silicon,
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Dude
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#450
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Re: Silicon XRF
Sorry no Si-PIN here until new power supply is installed.............Grrrrrrr..........
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GEOelectronics@...
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#449
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