Electron beam absorption in solid and in water phantoms: depth scaling and energy-range relations

In electron dosimetry energy parameters are used with values evaluated from ranges in water. The electron ranges in water may be deduced from ranges measured in solid phantoms. Several procedures recommended by national and international organisations differ both in the scaling of the ranges and in the energy-range relations for water. Using the Monte Carlo method the application of different procedures for electron energies below 10 MeV is studied for different phantom materials. It is shown that deviations in the range scaling and in the energy-range relations for water may accumulate to give energy errors of several per cent. In consequence energy-range relations are deduced for several solid phantom materials which enable a single-step energy determination. (author)