A study was made of the hard X-ray component in the impulsive phase of solar flares. In 36 randomly chosen events the value for the slope in the differential electron power spectrum E−δ electrons cm−2 s−1 keV−1, was related to the 20–32 keV spike rise time (e-folding) as trise = 0.56 exp (0.88δ) in the thin target model and tfrise = 0.10 exp (0.88δ) in the thick target picture. In the thin target model, the above empirical relation would imply that the acceleration of electrons can be longer when the acceleration rate is smaller. An alternative interpretation would be that an impulsive hard X-ray burst is a superposition of two components emitted from thin and thick targets; when the former predominates, the duration is longer and the photon spectral index is larger, while when the latter predominates, the duration is shorter and the photon spectral index is smaller; 3 ≲δ ≲4 is required (Figure 1). The uncertainty in δ is 0.5 while that in the rise time is 1 s.