A COMPARISON OF MONTE-CARLO SIMULATIONS OF ELECTRON-SCATTERING AND X-RAY-PRODUCTION IN SOLIDS

Monte Carlo simulations of electron scattering in silver have been performed at 6 and 20 keV to investigate the relation between electron transport, backscattering and depth distribution of characteristic x-ray production of tracer elements. The simulation models used combine the use of elastic cross sections, either of Rutherford or of Mott type, with approaches to inelastic scattering given either by the Bethe stopping power or by the energy loss- and momentum transfer-dependent dielectric functions derived from optical constants. A comparison of the simulation results shows that the model with Mott cross section and dielectric function results in better agreement between calculated and experimental energy spectra of backscattered electrons. However, the dominant term in models of PHI(rhoz) curves is elastic scattering and the Mott cross section yields better agreement with experimental results.