Preparation of Elemental Thin Foils for Exploring Collision-Induced Atomic Processes

Abstract

Thin foils of Au, Pb and Bi of different thicknesses were prepared via physical vapor deposition to be used as targets in ion-atom collision experiments. The quality of the fabricated foils was assessed by different characterization techniques. The α-energy loss method was used to measure the thicknesses of the foils, Rutherford backscattering was used to measure both thickness and purity of the foils, and scanning electron microscopy was used to study the surface morphology of the foils. Herein, details on the fabrication techniques along with the thickness measurements and characterization results are reported. These investigations formed a crucial part of a study wherein the effect of target thickness on heavy-ion-induced X-ray production cross sections was explored.