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Information Depth and Analyzed Volume

      The information depth is an important parameter for the assessment of sample preparation. It depends on the energy of the fluorescence radiation of the elements of interest as well as on the matrix of the sample. In the case of XRF, the incident radiation penetrates into the material, is absorbed on its way through the sample, and thereby generates fluorescent radiation. The radiation must reach the sample surface in order to be detected by the spectrometer. On its way, the fluorescence radiation is attenuated, i.e. only the radiation from a well-defined sample layer reaches the sample surface. This is referred to as the information depth.

Sample type Compact and homogeneous Compact and inhomogeneous Powder-like Liquid
Example Metals, glasses Minerals (ores, rocks, etc.), glasses, metal alloys, metal swarfs Minerals (ores, slags, soil, sludge, etc.) powder, dust Solutions, melts
Homogenization Usually not necessary, where appropriate remelting Metals, glasses: remelting ⟹ transfer into compact homogeneous material (from here see compact and homogeneous) Minerals: crushing, grinding ⟹ transfer into powder-like material or direct analysis ⟹ position-sensitive analysis (see Chapter 13) Grinding, digestion, melting, solution Stirring, shaking, where appropriate, filtering of solid components (as powder-like material)
Shaping Sawing, cutting, turning, drilling, milling Pouring of the powder in sample cups, pressing of disks, preparation of melted disks Pouring in sample cups
Surface preparation Polishing or milling with a roughness adapted to the elements to be analyzed Realized with shaping Given by covering of the sample cup
A geometric relation depicting how the penetration depth is always greater than the information depth. Grid chart depicting the information depth for a few different matrices, for the fluorescence energy of a specific element.
Fluorescence line Energy (keV) Graphite (μm) Silicon oxide (μm) Steel (μm) Lead (μm)
B-Kα1 0.18 4 0.13 0.01 0.01
F-Kα1,2 0.68 3.7 1.7 0.4 0.3
Mg-Kα1 1.25 20 7 2 1
S-Kα1 2.31 116 15 10 5
Cr-Kα1 5.41 1 600 100 104 7
Ni-Kα1 7.48 4 000 300 30 17
Cd-Kα1 23.17 14 500 8 000 700 77
Matrix Mass absorption coefficient (g/cm2) Information depth (μm) Count rate

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