Assessment of Bishop's absorption correction model in electron probe microanalysis

The absorption correction model proposed by Bishop (1974) is evaluated by making use of a large number of published microanalysis results. From a best-fit analysis on these data, constants are derived for use in the expression for the mean mass depth of X-ray generation. Microanalysis results corrected using the Bishop model are compared with those obtained by applying the more widely used Philibert equations (1963). It is shown that Bishop's method combines the best features of both the full Philibert model for elements with Z<12 and the simplified Philibert treatment where Z>or=12. In addition, methods of averaging h, a parameter accounting for the effect of atomic number of absorption, are discussed.