Multielemental trace analysis by proton induced X-ray fluorescence

Conclusion

The facility described above is the first accelerator based PIXE system installed and practically employed in Czechoslovakia. From the brief account presented here one can see that this rather unsophisticated device may be employed for solution of many analytical problems of practical importance. The device in the present experimental setup makes it possible to detect the elements with the atomic numbers above 20 at the mass level of about 10⁻⁸ g. The last value corresponds to a minimum detectable concentration of about 10⁻⁵ g/g for thin samples. Relative accuracy and precision are below 10% for the determination of the elements in the concentrations well above the detection limit. The performance of the PIXE facility will be improved substantially in the near future.