Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis is an analytical technique used for identifying the elemental composition of a specimen or an area of interest in the specimen. It is also used for elemental detection of contamination and foreign material. It is normally coupled with SEM for micro area analysis. An energetic electron beam excites the sample to emit characteristic X-rays of the elements which are used to identify and quantify the sample composition.
The output of an EDX analysis is an EDX spectrum which is just a plot of how frequently an X-ray is received for each energy level.