EFFECTIVE DEAD-TIME IN PULSE COUNTING SYSTEMS

Dead time corrections in particle counting systems are important for q uantitative analysis. It is often not appreciated, however, that these corrections depend on the experiment performed. For surface analysis systems using a stationary beam and a steady counting rate from a spec trometer with single particle detecting electronics, the dead time cor rections lead to the simple equations discussed in our earlier work. T hese concepts translate very directly into SIMS and AES systems with r astered beams and SIMS, XPS and AES systems with multidetectors, to us e the same equations, but with area average and multidetector dead tim es, respectively. The relations of these dead times to the original el ectronic dead time are presented here.