atomic-number effect

In spectroscopic analysis of characteristic X-rays (EDS), the "atomic-number effect" means that, since the amount of incident electrons which do not contribute to the emission of the characteristic X-rays of a target element (the excitation of the electrons of the target element) due to backscattering of the incident electrons is dependent on the average atomic number, the intensity of the X-rays generated from the specimen is dependent on the atomic numbers of the constituent elements of the specimen. When the atomic numbers of constituent elements are largely different, this effect has to be considered. Since this effect cannot be neglected in quantitative analysis when a specimen is thicker (～several 10 nm or thicker though depending on measured elements), correction for the detected X-ray intensity is required.

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