US Patent 7680243 - X-Ray measurement of nanoparticles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7680243.html

This patent from Jordan Valley Semiconductors teaches a new X-ray spectroscopy method for analysing nanostructures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method for analyzing a sample, comprising:

directing one or more beams of X-rays from at least one radiation source to impinge on an area of a surface of the sample on which a layer of nano-particles of a selected element has been formed, including a beam that is incident on the surface at a grazing angle;

detecting, using at least one detector, an intensity of X-ray fluorescence emitted from the area in a spectral line that is characteristic of the selected element responsively to the one or more beams;

detecting, using the at least one detector, an angular spectrum of the X-rays that are scattered from the area responsively to the beam that is incident on the surface at the grazing angle; and

characterizing a distribution of the nano-particles on the surface based on the intensity of the X-ray fluorescence and the angular spectrum of the scattered X-rays.