Monte Carlo simulation of Nb Kα secondary fluorescence in EPMA: comparison of PENELOPE simulations with experimental results

Secondary fluorescence across phase boundaries is a difficult problem encountered in several electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) situations: diffusion couples; small phases enclosed in a larger phases; eutectic intergrowths; and thin films. In some cases, it is possible to construct nondiffused couples and to measure the amount of secondary fluorescence across the phase boundary, but in most cases this is difficult, time consuming, expensive, or impossible. It is thus desirable to model the secondary fluorescence by Monte Carlo methods. Here we compare the results of experimentally measured secondary fluorescence of Nb K α with results from the PENELOPE Monte Carlo program, and find that there is close correspondence.