Investigation of the chemical composition of (Na1-xBi x)(Mn yNb1-y)O3 ceramics by single particle electron probe X-ray microanalysis with an application of Monte Carlo simulations

Accurate estimation of the elemental composition of materials that contain both low- and high-Z elements by electron probe X-ray microanalysis is not an easy task. An example of this kind of material is a new family of ceramics with general formula (Na1-xBix)(Mn yNb1-y)O3. To solve this problem, a method based on Monte Carlo simulations combined with an iterative approximation, which was recently successfully applied to quantitative analysis of the elemental content in aerosol particles, was used. The quantification procedure was evaluated on Bi2O3, PbO2 and NaNbO3 particles from stoichiometric compounds and applied to check the homogeneity and elemental contents of the selected ceramic after the application of different heat treatments