How Does a Microprobe Work?

An electron microprobe

operates under the principle that if a solid material is bombarded by an accelerated and focused electron beam, the incident electron beam has sufficient energy to liberate both matter and energy from the sample.

What type of microscope is a microprobe?

Electron microprobes are equipped with optical microscopes co-axial to the electron beam arranged in such a way that when the specimen surface is in optical focus with the integral optical microscope/camera, it is also in X-ray focus, i.e., it lies on the Rowland circle.

How does microanalysis apparatus work?

EPMA works by bombarding a micro-volume of a sample with a focused electron beam (typical energy = 5-30 keV) and collecting the X-ray photons thereby emitted by the various elemental species.