The Si surface yield as a calibration standard for RBS

Abstract The Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) surface height of a pure bulk material can be used as an absolute standard value to calibrate the detector solid angle. This work presents the results of an international collaboration started at the beginning of 1998 to define the surface height of the RBS spectrum ( H 0 ) of Si, amorphized by ion implantation to avoid channeling. The analyses were performed with 1–3 MeV He beams and 170° scattering angle. The detector solid angle was estimated in the different laboratories either by geometrical measurement or by a calibrated standard. The agreement of the experimental H 0 values is of the order ±2%, the claimed accuracy for RBS. The results are also consistent at 2% level with both the stopping power measurements of Konac et al. (1998), and the measurements of Lennard et al. (1999).