Ion Beam Energy Calibration of the 1.7 MV Tandem Accelerator At GAEC

Abstract

Particle accelerators are often used for both ion implantation and ion beam analysis, therefore the accurate and precise knowledge of the energies of the accelerated ions is essential. From the analytical point of view, the energy of the accelerated ion needs to be known with high precision which can only be achieved through calibration. Ghana Atomic Energy Commission hosts a 1.7 MV tandem accelerator, at the Accelerator Research Centre (ARC). This facility uses ion beam techniques such as Proton Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) for elemental composition analysis of materials to address issues in health, biological, archaeological, forensic and other areas of science. This study was designed to calibrate the energy of alpha particle which is mainly used for RBS analysis.