Determination of X-ray photoelectric absorption of Ge and Si avoiding solid-state effects

X-ray linear attenuation coefficients of germanium and silicon were measured with precision between 0.1% and 0.3% for six characteristic wavelengths: copper, molybdenum and silver K lines. The linear photoelectric absorption coefficients were determined from the values of the measured attenuation coefficients by subtracting the calculated Compton and thermal diffuse scattering involved. It is shown that in order to compare calculated values of X-ray absorption coefficients based on the isolated atom assumption with experimental results obtained from solid samples it is necessary to take into consideration the solid-state effects. Before the measurements the sample's angular positions were scanned to search for Bragg scattering and the measurements of the transmitted intensities were done far from these angular positions. The measurements were performed in three samples of each element with different thickness and in different angular positions for each sample in order to check the consistency of the measured attenuation coefficients. Several instrumental and experimental details were considered in order to achieve the final asserted precision. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.