1. Comparison with other local analysis methods

Table 1 shows the characteristics of the most frequently used local elemental analysis methods. These are average characteristics, and the information provided by the different methods is more often complementary than competitive. For example, the first two methods concern the first atomic layers, which is not the case for the nuclear microprobe.

The electron microprobe has the same field of application as the PIXE method (particle induced X-ray emission). but with much lower sensitivity and depth of analysis. On the other hand, observations with a resolution of the order of 10 nm are possible, making it possible to correlate elemental composition with nanostructures.

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