Scope of Elements. The spectrometer described in the Instrumentation section can see elements with atomic numbers of 15 (Phosphorus) or greater. See the XRF Spectra tab for examples of XRF Spectra of selected pure elements. Lighter elements (Silicon, Z = 14, and lower) are not detected with the unit described above.
If an element is detectable, it will appear as peaks of specific energies in the XRF spectrum, allowing for its qualitative identification by looking at the spectrum.
The various software modes described in the X-Ray Fluorescence section have tables with elements for doing both qualitative ID and quantitative analysis (affording relative concentrations in % by weight or parts-per-million). However, the set of elements supported at one time by the quantitation algorithm is limited (e.g., to 25-30 elements) in order to avoid false-positives from overlapping lines (Example of Interference). While there is no “universal default” quantitation mode for the entire periodic table, the set of elements used can be customized for special applications. Our current default set of elements included in the quantitation tables is here.