Files used and created by the MC-SET program
The files content and format is in the process of being updated (Dec 2011), and for this reason in some places 2 files are used to store the same data, in different format. Some of the files have already been converted, and others still used in their old formats.
In all cases, the new (and future) file format is a text readable file, using an XML structure.
| File name | Name template | Purpose and comments |
| Configuration parameters | mc-set.ini | Stores configuration information and user preferences for running the program. Located in the Program Files folder, under DLM-Enterprises\mc-set folder. |
| Materials list |
*.mat (old ver.) *.xmf (new) |
Data about the materials that can be used in the definition of a specimen. Only one material file can be used for a particular specimen, but there is no limit on the number of materials included in a material file. The materials file has all the material related data, used both in the simulation and in further calculations (such as EBIC and CL). |
| Specimen | abcdefg.spc | The specimen file consists of the geometrical definition of the specimen cross section, using for each separate area a possibly different material (from the materials list file). The number of layers or regions in a specimen is hard coded in the program to 10, but can in principle be any number. |
| Experiment parameters | abcdefg.exp | The experiment parameters file consists of information about the specimen (name of a specimen file) along with the SEM experimental conditions used (such as beam tilt and beam width), and the program specific parameters (such as number of electrons and calculation mode). Having defined a complete experiment parameters file it is possible to run a simulation. |
| Results |
abcdefg.r?? abcdefg.r??_XML |
Where the ?? in the file are replaced by a running serial number starting from 00 and up to 99. Each number corresponds to one simulation run, in which the same experiment parameters file is used. The change in serial number corresponds to different values of the scanning variable used in the simulation. The results stored in such a file include some average results related to backscattering, energy deposition in the various layers, information about the specimen and its layers, calculation parameters used. |
| Energy matrix | abcdefg*.e?? | For each *.r?? it is possible to generate during the simulation a corresponding *.e??, which contains the three dimensional data about the energy dissipation in the specimen. With array dimensions (currently) of 100 in each direction, this corresponds to 1,000,000 number of 4 bytes each (long integers), giving a constant file size of 4,000,000 bytes. This is the file used for further calculations with the simulation results. |
| Electron trajectories data | abcdefg*.t?? | For each *.r?? it is possible to store the details of the trajectories used in the graphics plot. This is done for all plotted electron trajectories, and include the trajectory step number, the electron position (x,y,z) and its energy. The size of this file varies depending on the experiment and the conditions set for plotting trajectories. |
| Electron trajectories graphics | abcdefg_??.BMP | For each *.r?? it is possible to store the IMAGE of the trajectories in the graphics plot. This is done for all plotted electron trajectories, at the end of the simulation run. It is mostly convenient to create a series of images for an animation sequence, using the scan variable program option. MC-SET can then be used to view/print graphic files, by loading them using the File Open menu or toolbar button option. |
| Backscattered electrons data | abcdefg.b?? | This file contains information about each of the backscattered electrons in the simulation run. This can be used to calculate the properties of the backscattered electrons, such as energy and angular distributions. The data for each backscattered electron consists of coordinates and remaining energy for the electron at the last calculated position (before backscattering), at the before the last position, at the deepest position in the specimen (maximum penetration). These files are used for the calculation of the spectrum: dN/dE for a range for energies, the number of electrons per energy step. |
| Transmitted electrons data | abcdefg.w?? | This file contains information about each of the electrons in the simulation run that are transmitted through a suitable thin specimen. These files are used in calculations of energy angular distributions, using the spectrum procedures available. Data for each transmitted electron consists of coordinates and remaining energy for the electron at the last calculated position within the specimen, and at the before the last position (for exit angle calculations). |
| Calc and plot data | abcdefg.xls | This is a workbook (a collection of spreadsheets) in excel format, with one sheet per simulation run (serial running number). For the one experimental parameters file (abcdefg.exp) there will be one workbook, with possibly as many spreadsheets as simulation runs. For each simulation run, it is necessary to load the data into the spreadsheet, an operation taken care by excel macros written in the master sheet of the workbook. |
| Temporary transfer file to excel | abcdefg.tmp |
Used to create the data in csv format for upload to excel. Results from processing the abcdefg.rxy and the corresponding abcdefg.exy files. |
