Advances in SDD-based EDS and Comparisons to WDS for Light Element Sensitivity

Silicon Drift-based Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) X-ray detectors have made strong advances in light element sensitivity over the last several years. 25 years ago most detectors still utilized Be (or similar performing) windows that prohibited meaningful transmission of X-rays below 1000 eV. The advent of light element polymer windows enabled detector sensitivity to C. Successive improvements in window construction resulted in light element sensitivity improvements from B to Be and finally to Si-L and Al-L. Example spectra are shown in Fig.