Development of a Laboratory Micron-Resolution X-ray Microprobe to Map Mineralogy and Trace Elements at PPM Sensitivity for Digital Rock, Magma, and Mining Applications

Abstract:

We are developing a patent-pending x-ray microprobe with substantially unprecedented performance attributes: <5 µm spot on the sample (with 1 µm targeted), large working distances of >2 cm, narrow spectral bandwidth, and large x-ray flux. The outstanding performance is enabled by: (1) a revolutionary new type of high flux x-ray source designed to be >10X brighter than the brightest rotating anode x-ray source available; (2) an axially symmetric x-ray mirror lens with large solid angle collection and high focusing efficiency; and (3) a detector configuration that enables the collection of 10X more x-rays than current microXRF designs. The sensitivity will be ppm-scale, far surpassing charged particle analysis (e.g. EPMA and SEM-EDS), and >1000X throughput over the leading micro-XRFs.

Despite the introduction of a number of laboratory microXRF systems in the past decade, the state-of-the-art has been limited primarily by low resolution (~30 µm) and low throughput. This is substantially attributable to a combination of low x-ray source brightness and poor performance x-ray optics. Here we present our initial results in removing the x-ray source bottleneck, in which we use a novel x-ray source using Fine Anode Array Source Technology (Sigray FAAST™). When coupled with our proprietary high efficiency x-ray mirror lens, the throughput achieved is comparable to that of many synchrotron microXRF beamlines.

Potential applications of the x-ray microprobe include high throughput mapping of mineralogy at high resolution, including trace elements, such as rare earth metals, and deposits (e.g. siderite, clays), with ppm sensitivity, providing information for properties such as permeability and elastic/mechanical properties, and to provide compositional information for Digital Rock. Additional applications include those in which the limited penetration of electrons limits achieving adequate statistics, such as determining the concentration of precious minerals in mine tailings.