The QUANTAX EDS system from Bruker AXS utilizes a high-resolution 125 eV Xflash® detector and, with the latest release of ESPRIT software, introduces new features and modules that can help you find elusive trace elements and make routine analysis easier than ever.

Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) offer unprecedented speed and resolution, providing researchers with more data in a shorter amount of time than ever before. As a result, new analysis techniques have been developed that take advantage of this additional data.

Maximum Pixel Spectrum, or MaxSpec, is a technique developed at NIST1 that is useful when searching for trace constituents in an unknown specimen. Such small, localized concentrations may not be detected in the standard sum spectrum as the number of counts is usually too small. Utilizing a HyperMap data cube, the Maximum Pixel Spectrum tool generates a spectrum that prominently shows the peaks of low concentration elements. Because this type of analysis requires large amounts of data, it can take many hours with a Si(Li) detector, but the Xflash SDD can gather this data in minutes; sometimes in seconds!

Another powerful method to mine the data in a HyperMap is to sort the pixels into phases based on X-ray intensity – an extremely effective technique for identifying subtle differences in the concentrations of elements. ESPRIT does this using a highly sophisticated routine called AutoPhase. Using a unique recursive pixel allocation algorithm, ESPRIT can allocate all pixels to their proper phases in less than a second. Users can set sensitivity, exclude non-diagnostic elements like oxygen and carbon, and refine the analysis based on prior knowledge of the sample.