Electron Skirts and X-ray Correction: Evaluating Methods for Rapid Discrimination of Primary versus Secondary X-ray Signals in the ESEM

For EDS "spot" analyses in the ESEM, data presented here show that two subtraction methods using internal standards can provide a useful indication of what elements are truly present in the sample under the primary beam and what portion of the signal is actually part of the ancillary X-ray spectrum produced by gas-scattered electrons.