ELECTRON-PROBE MICROANALYSIS OF INSULATING OXIDES - MONTE-CARLO SIMULATIONS

Using a model for the electric field built up in insulating materials irradiated by electrons, a Monte Carlo simulation method has been appl ied to the binary oxides Al2O3, MgO, SiO2, Y2O3 and Nb2O5. The results show the alteration of the shape of the depth distribution of charact eristic x-ray production, the Phi(rho z) function, for both metal and oxygen K alpha lines. The influence of the electric field built up on the measured x-ray intensities was clearly established. The changes in other physical quantities, such as the energy and angular distributio n of backscattering electrons and energy deposition were also investig ated. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.