Formalism for thin-target PIXE

The effective target thickness t ) is calculated from the actual thickness (t) using the relation 

The particle flux incident on the target Np is calculated by applying Rutherford scattering formula (see Chap. 2) 

Prom this formula for thin target, we find that the target density factor cancels out and thus the error due to uncertainty in the measurement of target thickness gets eliminated. However, the target thickness is used in the determination of the correction factor Ci. Depending upon the target thickness, the correction factor Cj can be calculated by either of the two methods. 

The method of O Kelley (1984) is applied when the energy loss by the projectile in the target is large (about 20% of the incident projectile) i.e., when the target thickness is of the order of lmgcm . In this method 

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