K-shell ionization cross sections of K and Lα X-ray production cross sections of I by 10–30 keV electron impact

Abstract

The absolute K-shell ionization cross sections of K and Lα X-ray production cross sections of I by 10–30 keV electron impact have been measured. The target was prepared by evaporating a thin film of compound KI to a thick pure carbon substrate. The effects of multiple scattering of electrons penetrating the target films, electrons reflected from the thick pure carbon substrates and bremsstrahlung photons produced when incident electrons impacted on the targets were corrected by using the Monte Carlo method. For K K-shell and I L-shell X-ray characteristic peaks, the spectra were fitted using the spectrum-fitting program ALLFIT to extract the Kα and Kβ peak counts more accurately for element K, and Lα peak counts for element I. The experimental results were compared with some theoretical results developed recently and available experimental data from the literature. The experimental data for I L-shell X-ray production cross sections by 10–30 keV electron impact are given here for the first time.