Quantitative electron probe microanalysis of boron

Quantitative electron probe microanalysis of boron has been performed in 28 binary borides in the range of 4-30 kV. In principle, intensity measurements of ultra-light element radiations can only be performed correctly if the effects of peak shifts and peak shape alterations between specimens and standard are taken into account. The analysis of boron is further complicated by the fact that the peak shape may also be dependent on the crystallographic orientation of the specimen with respect to the electron beam and spectrometer. This was found to be the case in 50% of the compounds investigated. However, if the measurements are performed properly, and if a good matrix correction program is used in conjunction with a consistent set of mass absorption coefficients, it is possible to obtain a narrow error distribution. The final histogram, displaying the number of analyses versus the ratio between calculated and measured intensity ratios that we obtained for 192 analyses with our PROZA96 program, had a root-mean-square value of 3.31% and a mean value of 1.0022. (C) 2000 Academic Press.