Experimental K-shell fluorescence yield of silicon

Abstract

The K-shell fluorescence yield of silicon was determined by evaluating the escape-peak-to-parent-peak intensity ratio for monoenergetic x-rays in the energy range 2-9 keV and for manganese K x-rays from an radioactive source, using an Si(Li) detector. An order of magnitude improvement in low-energy tailing achieved during the last decade made possible a significant improvement relative to earlier Si(Li) experiments of this type. A detailed analysis of the spectra was performed, including the double-photoionization satellites of the escape peaks. Depending upon the choice of attenuation coefficient, the result of is 0.050 or 0.052, with approximately uncertainty in either case. This overall result is close to the semi-empirical fit values both of Krause and of Bambynek, but is significantly higher than the recent fitted values of Hubbell et al.