© Springer Science+Business Media LLC 2018 J. Goldstein et al., Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray Microanalysis, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6676-9_16 209 Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry: Physical Principles and User-Selected Parameters 16 16.1 The Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS) Process – 210 16.1.1 The Principal EDS Artifact: Peak Broadening (EDS Resolution Function) – 210 16.1.2 Minor Artifacts: The Si-Escape Peak – 213 16.1.3 Minor Artifacts: Coincidence Peaks – 213 16.1.4 Minor Artifacts: Si Absorption Edge and Si Internal Fluorescence Peak – 215 16.2 “Best Practices” for Electron-Excited EDS Operation – 216 16.2.1 Operation of the EDS System – 216 16.3 Practical Aspects of Ensuring EDS Performance for a Quality Measurement Environment – 219 16.3.1 Detector Geometry – 219 16.3.2 Process Time – 222 16.3.3 Optimal Working Distance – 222 16.3.4 Detector Orientation – 223 16.3.5 Count Rate Linearity – 225 16.3.6 Energy Calibration Linearity – 226 16.3.7 Other Items – 227 16.3.8 Setting Up a Quality Control Program – 228 16.3.9 Purchasing an SDD – 230 References – 234