THE MONTE-CARLO-LIBRARY LEAST-SQUARES APPROACH FOR ENERGY-DISPERSIVE X-RAY-FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS

A new analysis principle called Monte Carlo-Library Least-Squares (MCL LS) approach has been identified and investigated for quantitative ene rgy dispersive x-ray fluorescence analyses. The feasibility of the MCL LS principle has been investigated with a radioisotope source excited EDXRF analytical system for several standard samples of known composit ion. With good initial elemental composition guesses, the MCLLS result s showed excellent agreement with the elemental compositions in the st andard samples. Furthermore, by taking the ratio of the photoelectric peak counts in the sample experimental spectra as approximate initial guesses, the proposed iterative MCLLS algorithm works quite well, conv erging to the correct elemental compositions. Only one iteration was n eeded for the analysis of all major elements. For trace elements a sec ond iteration was needed in some cases. Other possible applications of the MCLLS approach and future work are also discussed.