Patent ID: 6522718
Filing Date: 2003-02-18
Classification: G01B,G01N

Abstract:
An X-ray fluorescence thickness tester, provided with an X-ray generating system made up of a high voltage power source and an X-ray tube, means for focusing primary X-rays irradiated from the X-ray generating system onto microscopic sections with a slit, a collimator or a capillary utilizing a total reflection phenomenon, and a sample observation optical system for positioning used in measurement of microscopic measurement regions, comprising:a liquid nitrogen-less PIN diode X-ray detector or a silicon drift chamber used as a first sensor with low counting efficiency but high energy resolution, for detecting X-ray fluorescence generated from an object sample, and a proportional counter, CdZnTe detector or a scintillation counter as a second sensor having low energy resolution but high counting efficiency for high energy compared to the first sensor, arranged side by side in a sample chamber that is open to the atmosphere and not evacuated, wherein a system is divided between the two sensors according to energy of X-ray fluorescence, by adopting the first sensor for X-ray fluorescence from low energy, and adopting the second sensor for X-ray fluorescence from high energy, and stages subsequent to each of the detectors are made up of a separate preamp, linear amp, and frequency analyzer, and quantitative processing is carried out in common control and computing sections.