Automated Sum-Peak Suppression in an X-Ray Fluorescence Analyzer
AssigneeThermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc.
InventorLee GRODZINS
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of operating an x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer to automatically suppress sum-peaks is disclosed. The method includes irradiating a sample to acquire an initial energy spectrum. The energy spectrum is processed to identify a sum-peak that interferes with a characteristic fluoresced peak of an element of interest. A filter is positioned in the emitted radiation path to attenuate radiation that contributes to the identified sum-peak, and a filtered energy spectrum is acquired. In certain embodiments, the filtered energy spectrum is acquired only when a limit of detection (LOD) of an element of interest calculated from the initial energy spectrum does not satisfy a targeted objective.
Claims17
A method of operating an XRF analyzer, comprising:
- directing a primary beam of x-ray radiation onto a sample;
- detecting radiation emitted from the sample;
- constructing an energy spectrum of the detected radiation;
- identifying a sum-peak in the energy spectrum that overlaps a characteristic peak of an element of interest;
- positioning a filter in the path of the emitted radiation, the filter at least partially inhibiting the passage of radiation of an energy that contributes to the identified sum-peak;
- detecting the filtered radiation, and constructing a filtered spectrum of the detected filtered radiation.
An x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyzer, comprising:
- an x-ray source for generating a primary x-ray beam to irradiate a sample;
- a detector positioned to receive radiation emitted from the sample and configured to responsively produced pulses representative of the energies of the received radiation;
- a programmable controller, coupled to the detector, for accumulating and processing the pulses produced by the detector and constructing an energy spectrum of the radiation emitted from the sample;
- a filter apparatus for selectively positioning a filter in the path of the emitted radiation;
- wherein the programmable controller is programmed with instructions for performing steps of:
- identifying a sum-peak in the energy spectrum that overlaps a characteristic peak of an element of interest, causing the filter apparatus to position a filter in the beam path that at least partially inhibits the passage of radiation of an energy that contributes to the identified sum-peak, and constructing a filtered spectrum of the detected filtered radiation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.