Application of robust fitting analysis techniques to low-resolution spectral data

A recently developed spectral analysis methodology, RobWin, is applied to l ow-resolution spectra from room-temperature semiconductor instrumentation t o get a first look at its ability to identify the presence of nuclides in t hese spectra. The method, which builds upon non-linear robust fitting techn iques from RobFit spectral analysis software, emphasizes adding structure g radually to the entire spectrum background shape function after accounting for reoptimized combinations of full-spectrum photopeak functions for a use r-defined set of nuclides at each iteration. This feature makes RobWin well suited for the identification of weak-strength nuclides in high-background environments. The analysis approach emphasizes modeling the continuum for the entire spectrum as a single, continuous curve composed of cubic splines with optimized knot locations and coefficients. Peak shapes can be derived from actual data, a feature particularly useful with room temperature semi conductor materials. In its peak-search mode, RobWin can choose the best ma tch from up to 10 different peak shares for each unidentified peak. The dat a were collected with CZT-based detectors and were provided by the IAEA so that an initial look at the use of the RobWin methodology for analysis of r oom-temperature semiconductor spectra could be performed. The analysis meth odology is briefly described and initial results are presented. (C) 2001 El sevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.