XRF Instrument Types

At first, the general design of an X-ray spectrometer and the performance of the main components are discussed. This concerns the energy resolution as well as the parameters that influence the same. Further parameters such as count rate capability, detection efficiency, and operating costs are discussed too, separately for wavelength- and energy-dispersive instruments. In the second part, the different types of spectrometers are presented – both energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and wavelength-dispersive spectrometer (WDS), but also spectrometers with a special measurement geometry as total reflection or instruments with spatial resolution. Here also examples of commercially available instruments for every instrument type are presented.