X‐ray yield in photons/sr/electron was measured for theK&agr; lines of Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ge, Zr, and theL&agr; lines of Ta and Au. Incident electron energy was varied from 11 to 38 keV, and for some elements the take‐off angle for emerging x rays was varied from 6 to 45 deg. Theoretical yield values calculated after the method of Metchnik and Tomlin showed an average deviation of about 30% from the measured values, a very satisfactory agreement.Line/background ratios were also measured for the same elements and conditions. Normalization to the natural x‐ray line breadths gave ratios between 100/1 and 26 000/1 depending on the element and experimental conditions. Line/background ratios are consistently larger at low take‐off angles indicating that the characteristic radiation must be generated relatively closer to the surface than the continuum of the same wavelength.