Influence of simulation parameters on the speed and accuracy of Monte Carlo calculations using PENEPMA

15th European Workshop on Modern Developments and Applications in Microbeam Analysis; 7th Meeting of the International union of Microbeam Analysis Societies

材料科学;物理学

Llovet, X.^1 ; Salvat, F.^2

Scientific and Technological Centres, Universitat de Barcelona, Lluís Solé i Sabarís, 1-3, Barcelona

ES-08028, Spain^1

Facultat de Física (FQA), Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, Barcelona

ES-08028, Spain^2

关键词: Electron transport;    Interaction model;    Monte Carlo calculation;    Simulation parameters;    Statistical accuracy;    Tracking algorithm;    Variance reduction techniques;    Variance reductions;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/304/1/012009/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1757-899X/304/1/012009

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The accuracy of Monte Carlo simulations of EPMA measurements is primarily determined by that of the adopted interaction models and atomic relaxation data. The code PENEPMA implements the most reliable general models available, and it is known to provide a realistic description of electron transport and X-ray emission. Nonetheless, efficiency (i.e., the simulation speed) of the code is determined by a number of simulation parameters that define the details of the electron tracking algorithm, which may also have an effect on the accuracy of the results. In addition, to reduce the computer time needed to obtain X-ray spectra with a given statistical accuracy, PENEPMA allows the use of several variance-reduction techniques, defined by a set of specific parameters. In this communication we analyse and discuss the effect of using different values of the simulation and variance-reduction parameters on the speed and accuracy of EPMA simulations. We also discuss the effectiveness of using multi-core computers along with a simple practical strategy implemented in PENEPMA.