Polycrystalline Pd and amorphous PdTa films on Al substrates were studied by a variable energy positron beam and by Rutherford backscattering. Since positron diffusion in the overlayers is limited, the range follows directly from the Doppler broadening as a function of incident positron energy. To observe possible effects of positron backscattering, a sandwich of Al/Pd/Al was studied as well. It was found that the mean penetration depth is not described well byz¯(E)=A(&mgr;g/cm2)×En(E), ifAandnare assumed to be material and energy independent.