COMBINED RADIOISOTOPE XRF ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX-X-RAY SPECTRA IN THE CASE OF MAGNETOSTRICTIVE TBDYFE THIN-FILMS

The XRF analysis of TbDyFe thin film results in a multiple overlap bet ween the K alpha and K beta characteristic X-rays of Fe and the L X-ra ys of Tb and Dg, hence it Is not a trivial procedure to extract quanti tative information about the atomic ratios of the various elements in the inn, To overcome this problem, two annular radioactive sources, Cd -109 and Am-241, were employed in the XRF analysis of the films. By co mbining their results together with the experimentally determined sens itivity constants and relative intensities of the various characterist ic x-rags, the overlapping x-rays are resolved and the composition of the films can be determined. (C) 1997 bg John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.