Monte Carlo simulation of scanning electron microscopy bright contrast images of suspended carbon nanofibers

The authors present a Monte Carlo study of previously observed bright contrast from carbon nanofibers suspended over the underlying substrate using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The analysis shows that the origin of the bright contrast is mainly the increase in the secondary electron signal from the substrate when a gap between the nanofiber and substrate exists. The SEM signal dependence on the gap height is well reproduced by Monte Carlo simulation as well as a derived analytical expression. The bright contrast prevails when the SEM beam size is much smaller than the nanofiber diameter.