Solid-state electronic structure effects of silicon Kβ x-ray spectra produced in α-particle excitation

Abstract

Both Si and SiO2 crystals were bombarded by a 3.2-MeV α-particle beam and the subsequent Si K x-ray yield was measured. The Kα x-ray spectra show fairly close agreement; however, the structure in the Kβ x-ray spectra is quite different for Si and SiO2. These results are interpreted as effects due to the chemical bonding of the oxygen atoms to silicon.

The instrumental blank of the Mars Science Laboratory alpha particle X-ray spectrometer

“…Very small contributions from silicon to silicon pulse pile-up and silicon-noise pulse pile-up could cause departures from the assumed Voigtian shape of the upperenergy flank of the silicon peak. Multiple ionization of silicon by alpha particles is known to result in high-energy satellites [13] which cause further distortion. These effects could augment the derived phosphorus peak.…”