K-shell fluorescence yields of silicon and germanium by detector escapes

Evaluating the K-shell fluorescence yield of an X-ray detector material like Si or Ge from the escape to parent peak ratio is essentially an integration problem; e.g., side wall effects make a contribution of the order of 1% for uncollimated beams. The transition from atomic X-ray fluorescence to detector emission is physically governed by relative absorption coefficients, and it is the uncertainty in these values which restricts the numerical reliability of the results: omega K .Si =0.0481+or-0.0014 and omega K ,Ge =0.532+or-0.016. Both the values with their associated error limits are not sufficient to decide whether effects of the outer-shell configuration are numerically relevant.