A convolution analysis method for hydrogen concentration profiles by elastic recoil detection

Recoil proton spectra can be obtained by a convolution process that combines ideal recoil proton spectra and an energy resolution function. The shapes of ideal recoil proton spectra are determined by recoil cross sections, effective stopping power {S}, the energy loss of recoil protons as they exit the matrix and as they penetrate the absorber, along with the ¹H depth profile. The energy resolution function, which includes contributions from detector performance, geometrical broadening, energy straggling, multiple scattering, etc., was carefully considered. The method is applied to three different samples and shown to give satisfactory results.