Technology development for soft X-ray spectroscopy

X-ray spectroscopy instruments lose part of their performance due to the lack of suitable components for soft Xray region below 1 keV. Therefore, in the analysis of low atomic number elements including lithium, beryllium, boron and carbon instrument sensitivity is often limited. In this work we describe how the performance of the spectroscopy of soft X-rays is significantly improved when all devices integrated in the spectroscopic instrument are suitable for both soft and hard X-rays. This concept is based on utilizing ultra-thin SiN X-ray windows with proven performance not only as a detector window but also as an X-ray source window. By including a soft-X-ray-sensitive silicon drift detector with efficient surface charge collection in this concept the sensitivity and performance of the instrument is significantly increased. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.