Methodological and Computational Developments for Modeling the Transport of Particles within Materials

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Background

Electron spectroscopies and microscopies, examining how electrons interact with matter, represent fundamental tools to investigate the electronic and optical properties of matter. Electron spectroscopies and microscopies allow for studying the chemical composition, electronic properties, and crystalline structure of materials. According to the energy of the incident electrons, a broad range of spectroscopic techniques can be utilized: for example, low energy electron diffraction (LEED) allows to investigate of the crystalline structure of surfaces, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) permits to analyze of the chemical composition of the surfaces of solids, electron energy loss spectroscopy can be used to characterize materials by comparing the shape of the plasmon-loss peaks and the fine-structure features due to interband and intraband transitions with those of suitable standards, elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES) is a useful tool to detect the presence of hydrogen in carbon-based materials. Secondary electrons permit the investigation of doping contrast in p-n junctions and to evaluate accurate nanometrology for the most advanced CMOS processes, with important applications to the microelectronic industry.

On the other side, ion beam interaction with materials has been demonstrated to be very important for many applications, such as radial dose calculations to determine the energy deposited in biomaterials with a clear advancement in finding a cancer cure by hadrontherapy.

We use particle beams for several purposes either on the front production of materials or for their characterization. Among important applications, we mention the processing of materials with plasma, local melting of materials for joining large components, and electron-beam and photon-beam lithography. In this research topic, our aim is to show how recent computational and theoretical approaches can be used to model and control experimental devices based on the use of beams and to develop novel technologies. We also aim to promote and stimulate the development of new computer programs and numerical routines able to improve the current description of cross-sections, most notably in the low energy regime (< 50 eV), and of electron and positron spectra.

All the manuscript types are welcome, including full length articles, short articles and letters, reviews, and specific viewpoints on given topics about electron, positron, ion, photon transport in metals, semiconductor, and insulators and on relevant methods therein.

Keywords: Dielectric properties of materials calculations, Electron spectroscopies and microscopies, Monte Carlo method, First-principles simulations, Cross-section calculations, Dielectric properties of materials

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