Electron stopping power and mean free path in organic compounds over the energy range of 20-10,000 eV

An empirical method to obtain optical energy loss functions is presented for a large number of organic compounds, for which optical data are not available, on the basis of structure feature analysis of the existed optical energy loss functions for certain organic compounds. The optical energy loss functions obtained by using this method are in good agreement with the experimental data. Based on the Penn's statistical model, a set of systematic expressions have been given for the calculation of the stopping powers and mean free paths of electrons penetrating into the organic compounds in the energy range of E less than or equal to 10 keV. Detailed comparison of the calculated data with other theoretical results is presented. The stopping powers and mean free paths for a group of important polymers, without available optical data, have been calculated. In the calculations, three different cases have been considered, i.e. exchange correction not being considered, Ashley exchange correction being involved, and Born-Ochkur exchange correction being included. The results indicate that for these compounds the calculated stopping powers agree well with those obtained by using Bethe-Bloch theory at high-energy limit E = 10 keV, as expected for a stopping power theory that should be converged to Bethe-Bloch theory at high energies. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.