Diffusion of silicon in polycrystalline gold foils observed with a PIXE microprobe

Abstract PIXE microprobe is used for the determination of silicon segregation in gold grain boundaries during silicon diffusion through polycrystalline gold foils. Silicon concentration maps obtained by scanning the surface of gold foils indicate that an eutectic gold-silicon alloy is produced during the silicon diffusion. These measurements are completed by metallographic observations. The problem of obtaining quantitative analyses of silicon in gold by PIXE is discussed in terms of matrix effects and surface structure of the samples compared with the chosen reference material.