Grazing Exit X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy

In this paper, A grazing exit X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for thin film analysis was developed by Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. GEXRF is a new method of instrumental analysis that not only allows determination of the film composition, but also provides information on depth distributions and densities, thickness of films. With grazing-emission X-ray fluorescence, the opposite principle of total reflection X-ray fluorescence is utilized. In this study, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) experiments have been performed for metal thin films (Ni, Ni/Ti) on silicon substrates and a mirror-polished GaAs under the grazing exit condition. The XRF intensity was measured as a function of the exit angle for nearly normal X-ray incidence. The angular dependence of the grazing exit XRF intensity showed a sharp increase at the critical angle of K-alpha, K-beta radiation for the metal film. The applicability of the grazing exit XRF for thin-film analysis was clearly demonstrated.