METHODS OF CHANNELING SIMULATION

Many computer simulation programs have been used to interpret experiments almost since the first channeling measurements were made. Certain aspects of these programs are important in how accurately they simulate ions in crystals; among these are the manner in which the structure of the crystal is incorporated, how any quantity of interest is computed, what ion-atom potential is used, how deflections are computed from the potential, incorporation of thermal vibrations of the lattice atoms, correlations of thermal vibrations and form of stopping power. Other aspects of the programs are included to improve the speed; among these are table lookup, importance sampling and the multiparameter method. It is desirable for programs to facilitate incorporation of special features of interest in special situations; examples are relaxations and enhanced vibrations of surface atoms, easy substitution of an alternate potential for comparison, change of row directions from layer to layer in strained-layer lattices and different vibration amplitudes for substitutional solute or impurity atoms. Ways of implementing all of these aspects and features and the consequences of them are discussed. © 1990.