Limits of detection and quantitation in PIXE analysis of thick targets

X-ray spectra induced by the impact of 1–5 MeV protons on pure single-element matrices of carbon, aluminum, silicon, titanium, iron, germanium, molybdenum, silver, tin, ytterbium and lead have been used to investigate analytical detection limits in thick-target PIXE. Particular attention is paid to the choice of appropriate aluminum X-ray filters for suppression of the matrix characteristic X-ray lines and their pile-up peaks, and to the choice of optimum proton energy.