Quantitative characterization of an x-ray source in an x-ray photoelectronspectroscopy system

The x-ray spectrum from a dual anode x-ray source in an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy system was calculated by the NIST Desk Top Spectrum Analyzer used for synthesizing spectra in energy dispersive x-ray analyzers commonly found in scanning electron microscopes. The energy flux was obtained by in tegrating over the x-ray energy spectrum. The energy flux from the source w as measured by a silicon photodiode. Very good quantitative agreement was f ound between the flux obtained from the calculated spectra and the flux mea sured by the photodiode, indicating that the calculated spectra are, in fac t, physically valid for this source. The calculated spectra were used to ob tain the energy deposition as a function of depth below the irradiated surf ace of polytetrafluoro- ethylene, a material used in spacecraft and exposed to the space radiation environment. [S0034-6748(00)03703-5].