Report Specification Property Page

Figure 1 shows the Report Specification property page.

Standard Reports represent comprehensive tabulations of quantification results, which may result from either:

1. Integration regions.
2. Intensities determined from synthetic peaks used to fit the data envelope.
3. A combination of 1 and 2.
4. Integration regions proportioned by synthetic peaks for only those quantification items (regions or components) for which Tag fields are defined.

Custom Reports, on the other hand, allow atomic concentrations to be computed from user-defined intensities. These intensities are calculated from formulae specified in terms of the quantification names associated with integration regions or synthetic components, and allow complex relationships between these basic quantification items to be exploited.

Figure 1: Report Specification Property Page.

Figure 1 shows the current set of available quantification items in the list . From this list the formulae can be constructed in the list headed where in the case shown in Figure 1 the formulae at simply the ratio of the elementally intensities to that of the O 1s intensity.

Constructing Columns of Intensities from Regions and Components

The set of push buttons positioned between these two lists allow a quick definition for some common situations. The button enters a set of Names/Formulae into the lower list that simply derives from quantification items corresponding to integrations regions. Similarly, only intensities from synthetic components are entered when the button is pressed or alternatively all quantification items are entered when the button is selected. Ratio formulae are similarly entered into the Name/Formulae list, but an item from the Quantification Item Names list must be selected before either of the buttons is pushed. The quantification item chosen is used as the denominator in the ratio formulae as shown in Figure 1.

From Where do the Quantification Item Names Come

The entries in the Quantification Item Names are determined from the VAMAS blocks selected in the right-hand-side of the active Experiment Frame. The custom report defined using these buttons allows a table of intensities to be generated, where each selected row in the Experiment frame results in a row in the quantification report and the intensities/Atomic Concentrations are gathered from the formula for a Name in the lower table.

WARNING: Intensities from quantification items located in the same row in the Experiment Frame with the same name are summed. Thus, if a peak fit is constructed and each of the synthetic peaks is given the same name then the intensity for the entire set of peaks will be summed into the common quantification item name. If however the region used to define the background is also given the same name as the synthetic peaks, the intensity from the data will effectively be doubled since the peaks and the integration region will both approximate the same intensity for an element. To avoid this erroneous situation, the RSF value for either the region or the set of components should be set to zero. A zero RSF will exclude the (potential) quantification item from the quantification calculation.

Adjusting the Formulae

Once an initial Name/Formula table is prepared, the entries can be edited. Right-click the mouse over the name field to invoke an edit dialog window (Figure 2). Here the Name and the Formula can be adjusted, deleted or a new entry added.

• To add a new entry, edit the fields and press the button.
• To delete the current entry select the button.
• To modify the current entry, edit the text fields and press the button.

Figure 2: Name/Formula Edit Dialog Window.

The formula may be any arithmetic expression involving the quantification item names and numerical constants. For example Si 2p – O 1s * 0.5 would be a valid formula given the set of quantification items shown in Figure 1.