In elastic recoil detection analysis, a silicon diode is the most common detector. This type of detector is commonly used, however, there are some major disadvantages when using this type of detector. For example, the energy resolution decreases significantly with a Si detector when detecting heavy recoiled ions. There is also a possibility of damage to the detector by radiation exposure. These detectors have a short functional lifetime (5–10 years) when doing heavy ion analysis. One of the main advantages of silicon detectors is their simplicity. However, they have to be used with a so-called “range foil” to range out the forward scattered heavy beam ions. Therefore, the simple range foil ERD has two major disadvantages: first, the loss of energy resolution due to the energy straggle and second, thickness inhomogeneity of the range foil, and the intrinsic indistinguishability of the signals for the various different recoiled target elements. Aside from the listed disadvantages, ERDA range foils with silicon detectors is still a powerful method and is relatively simple to work with.