There is growing demand for high precision and sensitivity micro-spot elemental analysis of microelectronic components. EPMA (electron probe micro analyzer) and EDXRF (energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence) are commonly used for this purpose. However, two of the drawbacks for EPMA and EDXRF are their relatively low sensitivities, and spectral resolutions.
A wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF) spectrometer equipped with a high-energytype polycapillary lens has recently been developed by Rigaku. This WDXRF spectrometer can be used for a 100-μm spot-size measurement and has high precision as well as sensitivity even for light elements. In this article, the newly developed Rigaku WDXRF spectrometer equipped with a polycapillary lens is briefly described and examples on its applications to micro-spot analysis are given~