Max Counts and Unknown Count Factor Parameters
The Max Counts is used to specify a statistics based count time. By default, Max Counts is set to 100,000,000 (100 million total counts), so that it will normally not affect the acquisition. However, it may be desirable to specify a specific maximum count that is to be acquired for each element. The default max Counts may be set in the PROBEWIN.INI file in the [counting] section.
For example, the count time and max counts could be configured so that each element will count for 30 seconds or 10000 total counts (that is 1% precision), whichever comes first. The advantage of this method is that on samples with high count rate elements, the actual time required to acquire data is shortened, while low count rate elements are counted for a full 30 seconds. In this way also, the statistical significance of all element count rates with the same Max Counts is more comparable.
The Unknown Count Time Factor is also displayed, which is actually used for trace element analysis in two different ways. The first method is as a factor applied to the default count time for acquiring unknown sample elements relative to the count time used for the standards. This is especially useful in trace element analysis when the standard only requires a 10 second count time but the unknown requires say, 100 seconds for the desired detection limit. By simply specifying an Unknown Count Time factor of 10, this can be achieved.
The other way in which the Unknown Count Time Factor can be used is when the Use Alternating On and Off Peak Acquisition flag is checked in the Acquisition Options window. In this case the total acquisition time is calculated as above but in addition, the program will automatically divide up the acquisition of on and off-peak count times into alternating intervals based on the Unknown Count Time Factor for each element.
For example, if the Use Alternating On and Off Peak Acquisition option is checked and the on peak count time for an element is 10 seconds and the off-peak count time is 5 seconds and the Unknown Count Time Factor is set to 3 then the program will first acquire 10 seconds on peak followed by 5 seconds on each off-peak, in three separate repetitions. The counts are automatically totaled at the completion of all repetitions. This option is especially useful in situations where the sample measurement could be affected by extended acquisition times due to beam damage, carbon contamination or surface charging.
Note that in both instances, the Unknown Count Time Factor entered, can be an integer or real number. Also be aware that the option exists to combine intensities for duplicate elements from multiple spectrometers. See Aggregate Intensity option.