USING STOPPING FOILS FOR DEPTH DETERMINATION BY PARTICLE INDUCED X-RAY-EMISSION

For some years PIXE-methods have been used for depth determination or depth profiling by transforming depth into the energy of the X-ray exciting particles and making use of the strong energ dependence of the excitation cross section. Up until now the effective energy modification was done by changing the accelerator regime or the incidence angle of the beam. Both methods have disadvantages under microbeam conditions, for they cannot avoid changes in the beam spot location on the sample surface. So it is proposed to use stopping foils for energy modification immediately in front of the sample. This possibility is evaluated as an absolute depth determination in an explicit manner. © 1979.