Suppression of X-Ray Fluorescence Background in X-Ray Powder Diffraction by a Mercuric Iodide Spectrometer

Abstract

AbstractWe have explored the merits of using a Hgl2 spectrometer as a detector in x-ray diffraction systems instead of a proportional gas counter, or a scintillation counter. The full width at half maximum energy resolution of the HgI2 spectrometer used was about 1.1 keV for the CuKα line (8.1 keV), and about 1.5 keV for the MoKα line (17.4 keV), The energy resolution was utilised to eliminate x-ray fluorescence background from powder diffraction spectra. We demonstrate the suppression of Fe x-ray fluorescence in diffraction patterns of ErFe03 obtained with a Cu x-ray tube, and of Y x-ray fluorescence in diffraction patterns of Y2O3 obtained with a Mo x-ray tube. The peak height to background ratios were improved by about an order of magnitude in both cases.