A STANDARDLESS ZAF CORRECTION FOR SEMIQUANTITATIVE ELECTRON-PROBE MICROANALYSIS OF MICROSCOPIC PARTICLES

A procedure for automated microanalysis is adapted from a correction procedure for bulk samples. A particle size correction, based on the projected diameter of the particle, assumed to be spherical, is implemented when the diameter is less than or equal to the electron interaction diameter. A bulk correction is applied in the opposite case. The method is applicable to K- and L-lines for the elements Na to Bi. The method is implemented in a FORTRAN computer program QUANTA written for personal computers. The procedure offers interactive control of several parameters of a single ZAF correction as it is capable of processing the massive amount of data produced by automated analysis of large particle collections. The method uses literature data on a number of fundamental parameters and performs the ZAF corrections by making a compromise between calculation speed and accuracy using first-order corrections for backscattering, absorption and secondary fluorescence effects. It was tested on a set of alloy standards, mineral standards and mineral particle standards.