Critical assessment and proposal for reconstruction of a grazing emission X-ray fluorescence instrument

With grazing-emission X-ray fluorescence, the opposite principle of total r eflection X-ray fluorescence is utilized. Instead of a approximate to 0 deg rees/90 degrees (incident beam/take-off angle) geometry, a approximate to 9 0 degrees/approximate to 0 degrees geometry should be applied. This renders it possible to increase the determined range of elements to elements with the characteristic radiation of longer wavelength, as a conventional wavele ngth-dispersive spectrometer can be used. In this study, a critical review of the instrumental set-up is presented and special emphasis is paid to ess ential parts of the device, like the sample chamber with the tilting sample table and the Rh end window tube. Especially for the application of this d evice to the analysis of environmental samples, a critical statement was ne cessary. It was found that the instrument in its present status is not in a n optimal condition for such a type of analysis and some selected variation s in the actual set-up might bring significant improvements. Furthermore, d etailed proposals of a possible reconstruction for a more optimized device are presented and new aspects for a wider field of applications for this in strument, for instance as a microprobe, are investigated.