Depth resolution of transmission ERDA for H in Al under nuclear-elastically enhanced recoiling of H by 8 MeV He

Abstract

Using stacked samples of Al foil and H-containing resin film, we have carried out elastic recoil detection analysis with transmission layout (T-ERDA) to investigate the depth resolution in the measurements of H distribution in Al. For narrow and wide acceptance conditions of the detector, the depth resolutions of 1.5–4.9 μm at several depths in Al of 50 and 80 μm thicknesses have been determined for incidence of 8 MeV 4He. While the main factor to degrade the depth resolution is the energy straggling of recoil H for narrow acceptance conditions, it is the extended low-energy side of the H spectrum for wide acceptance conditions. The knowledge obtained in this work is useful for analysis of 3D images of H distribution measured by T-ERDA, for example, future analysis of minerals or natural glass samples to determine abundances and distributions of water or OH in the samples.