TABLE OF CONTENTS In Chap. 3 we derived equations describing the kinematics of binary elastic collisions. These equations enable us to calculate the amount of energy-transferred to a target atom in a collision when the scattering angle of the projectile or the target atom is known. Conversely, we could calculate the scattering angle if the amount of energy loss in the collision was known.
In Chap. 4 we will examine the probability of ion-solid scattering events. During ion irradiation and ion implantation experiments, many ions or energetic particles interact with many target nuclei. Due to the large number of interactions, the questions of how much energy will be transferred in a collision or what the scattering angle will be must be answered using statistics and probability. The differential cross-section is the fundamental parameter that we will develop. It gives a measure of either the probability of transferring energy T in the range between T and T + d T to a target atom, or of the probability of scattering a projectile into some angle between ? c and ? c + d ? c. The differential cross-section has units of area, typically centimeters squared. The differential cross-section integrated over all angles is the total cross-section, often referred to simply as the cross-section.
The differential cross-section will become an important parameter in describing ion ranges in solids and radiation damage, both of which will be discussed later in this book. The differential cross-section depends strongly...
