Applicability of a cut-off reflector for grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence analysis

The applicability of a cut-off reflector, instead of the commonly used multilayer reflector, for grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence (GI-XRF) analysis is demonstrated. Owing to the precise angular adjustment possible in the total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF) spectrometer developed in house, it is possible to adjust the cut-off reflector so as to pass all X-ray energies up to Cu-Kα, eliminating Cu-Kβ and higher X-ray energies emitted from a Cu target X-ray generator. The advantage of this technique is that one gets a higher flux of Cu-Kα radiation (>98%) compared to 80–90% from a good quality multilayer optics. Moreover, the same cut-off reflector, used at different grazing angles, serves the purpose for different primary beam energies. The suitability of such an arrangement for GI-XRF analysis for surface characterization has been demonstrated by analyzing a 50 ng aqueous residue of Fe on top of a float glass substrate. The GI-XRF results thus obtained are compared with those obtained using a multilayer monochromator in the primary beam as well as with theoretical calculations.