X-Ray Fluorescence and Emission | Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission

Abstract

The basic principles, instrumentation, sample types, and applications of the particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) technique are presented. PIXE is an ion beam analysis (IBA) technique, whereby energetic heavy charged particles (usually protons of 1–4MeV) are used to induce element-specific X-ray emission. The X-rays are generally measured with an energy-dispersive solid state detector, nowadays typically a silicon drift detector (SDD), and the elements from Na to U can be detected with good sensitivity and good detection limits, down to 0.1mgkg−1 in favorable cases. By combining PIXE with other IBA techniques also the light elements (from H to F) can be measured.