NUCLEAR REACTION TECHNIQUES IN MATERIALS ANALYSIS.

Abstract

This paper presents the basic principles and methods of nuclear reaction microanalysis (NRA) and illustrates its use with analytical examples. Some specific applications are stressed. Applications range from solid-state physics and electrochemistry, semiconductor technology, metallurgy, materials science, and surface science to biology and archeology. The nuclear processes involved in NRA are simple and the MeV particle slowing-down processes that intervene in data reduction are now reasonably well understood. Therefore NRA yields reliable, unambiguous, accurate, and quantitative analytical results.