next up previous contents
Next: How to Specify Up: How to Specify Previous: How to Describe

How to Specify Your Output

 

How the output is specified by means of the graphical user interface (GUI) is described in Chapter 5. In this chapter it is only referred to the actual input files which are read by SESAME during program execution.

SESAME, by means of the &OUTPUT namelist, supplies a very great variety of output information which may be graphically visualized on the screen or written to files for postprocessing. Supported output options conclude information of electron (primary and secondary) trajectories, 1D, 2D, and even 3D distributions of ionizations, generated and detected characteristic x-rays, 2D distributions of generated and detected Auger electrons, backscattered, secondary and Auger electron scans, characteristic x-ray scans, energy and angle distributions of all kind of electrons (backscattered, transmitted, secondary, Auger), and some more.

  
Table 6.6: Variables needed for the specification of output

Generally, we distinguish between two different kinds of output data in SESAME: space-dependent output, i.e. a quantity which is a function of space coordinates (e.g. a 2D distribution of ionizations or x-rays in dependence of the location of their generation, but also electron trajectories fit into that category), and histograms (1D, 2D and 3D), i.e. a quantitiy which is normally a function independent of space coordinates, dependent on qualities like energy and angles (polar, azimuthal). However, this separation is not totally strict and there are some histograms which are functions of space coordinates, like line scans or depth distributions which are also treated as histograms. For more details see Chapter 9.9 especially Table gif. A survey of possible ouput variables (all elements of the &OUTPUT namelist) is given in Table 6.6.

For the specification of output quantities in the input deck 3-character-long abbreviations have been introduced. The structure of these short-cuts (acronyms) is explained in the first paragraph of Chapter 9.9. All these possible output short-cuts together with their explanations are also listed at the beginning of Chapter 9.9.

Generally, the output specification in the input deck has the following form:

OUTP_MEDIUM(I)='ACRONYM,SUB_STRING_1;SUB_STRING_2;SUB_STRING_3;INTEGER'

OUTP_MEDIUM(I) determines the output medium (screen, PostScript, ASCII or binary file) with I being only a "running" index, ACRONYM is one of the 3-character long characteristic short-cuts (acronyms) and the SUB_STRING_#s and the INTEGER are mostly optional (do not have to be specified) sub-strings and an integer value, respecively, allowing to specify additional things, like file names, clipping, detector number, etc.. More details and examples will be given in the following paragraphs.

Output to Screen - SCREEN(I):

Possible ACRONYMs are: BEE, TEE, SEE, BEA, TEA, SEA, AEA, BEP, TEP, SEP, AEP, BEY, TEY,SEY, AEY, XCY, XCS, DEE, AES, IOV, IOL, PEB, PET, BET, TET, SET, ION, IOD, XGD, XDD, AGD, ADD.

Directing output to the screen is controlled by the SCREEN variable in the &OUTPUT namelist. Generally, all 1D histograms may be visualized on screen [BEE, TEE, SEE, BEA, TEA, SEA, AEA, BEP, TEP, SEP, AEP, BEY, TEY, SEY, AEY, XCY, XCS, DEE, AES, IOV, IOL]. Furthermore, all electron trajectories (primary, and secondary electrons) [PEB, PET, BET, TET, SET], ionizations [ION], and distributions of ionizations [IOD], generated [XGD] and detected [XDD] characteristic x-rays, and generated [AGD] and detected [ADD] Auger electron distributions can be visualized on screen. Generally, up to 20 windows can be opened at the screen during one simulation. However, the user must be aware that extensive output to the screen will slow down the simulation. For the meaning of all these 3-character short-cuts it is referred to Chapter 9.9. Some examples of possible screen output is shown in Figures gif and gif.

SUB_STRING_1 is slightly different for space-dependent quantities and histograms. For space-dependent output ( PEB, PET, BET, TET, SET, ION, IOD, XGD, XDD, AGD, ADD) it is:

[SCREEN#],[MIN_X],[MAX_X],[MIN_Z],[MAX_Z]

Brackets "[]" indicate optional quantities, i.e. they do not need to be explicitly specified because there exist default values for them. By means of SCREEN# the output may be directed to an already specified screen ( SCREEN(SCREEN#). To visualize, for instance, primary electron trajectories and ionizations in a single window the specification in the input deck may look like following:

 SCREEN(1)='PET'
 SCREEN(2)='ION,1;;Si,K'
The parameters MIN_X, MAX_X, MIN_Z, MAX_Z determine the clipping of your structure actually visualized, X denoting the lateral and Z the vertical direction. The units used are those specified by the UNITS variable in the &INIT namelist (see Chapter 9.1). If not specified, then the default units are MOCRON.
 SCREEN(1)='PET,,1,4,0,2'
for instance, draws only the part of the geometry lying between 1 and 4 microns in lateral and 0 and 2 microns in vertical direction to your screen. With that it is possible to see more details.

For histograms ( BEE, TEE, SEE, BEA, TEA, SEA, AEA, BEP, TEP, SEP, AEP, BEY, TEY, SEY, AEY, XCY, XCS, DEE, AES, IOV, IOL) SUB_STRING_1 looks like:

[N1],[MIN_1],[MAX_1],[N2],[MIN_2],[MAX_2],[N3],[MIN_3],[MAX_3]

Again, the specification of all these parameters is optional. MIN_# and MAX_# are the minimum and maximum value of axis #, respectively, and N# is the number of intervals for axis #. Although already prepared for the visualization of also 2D and 3D histograms, only 1D histograms can be put on the screen presently. This is no real restriction since 2D and 3D histograms may be written to ASCII files and visualized subsequently by a postprocessing tool like POSTMINI (see Chapter 10.1).

 SCREEN(1)='BEE,20,5,10'
for instance will draw a histogram on your screen showing the energy distribution of backscattered electrons in the energy range between 5 and 10 keV. The number of intervals is 20. For default values see Chapter 9.9.

SUB_STRING_2 determines the location (upper left corner) and the width and height of the window to be opened on your screen and looks like:

[XH],[XV],[WIDTH],[HEIGHT]

XH and XV are the horizontal and vertical coordinates of the upper left corner of the window. XH and XV may have no effect on some machines. We experienced, for instance, that it works fine on our X-terminals but not on our workstations.

If WIDTH and HEIGHT are explicitly specified then the output is probably distorted, i.e. the x- and z-direction do not have the same dimension. This may be undesirable in cases where the output contains the simulation geometry, which is the case for space-dependent outputs. In such cases it is recommended to specify only one parameter, WIDTH or HEIGHT, or none of both. Then the screen will be adjusted to avoid distortion. The dimension for all these parameters is pixel. The default values are "1,1,720,540" for the first window. Every additional window is slightly shifted (if XH and XV works fine on your computer) to avoid complete overlapping.

 SCREEN(1)='PET,,1,4,0,2;,,400'
for instance, will open the window somewhere on your screen (is not explicitly specified here) and the width of that window will be 400 pixels. The height will be adjusted so that the geometry is not distorted.

SUB_STRING_3 must be specified whenever ionizations, characteristic x-rays or Auger electrons are to be visualized ( ION, IOV, IOL, IOD, XCY, XGD, XDD, AEY, AGD, ADD). This string contains the chemical abbreviation of an element separated by a comma from either the ionized shell, the characteristic x-ray line or an Auger peak.

 SCREEN(1)='ION;;Si,K'
 SCREEN(2)='XDD;;Si,KA'
 SCREEN(3)='AEY;;SI,KLL'
for instance, will open 3 windows on your screen, the first containing the silicon K-shell ionizations, the second the silicon distribution and the third an Auger scan at the energy of the silicon KLL Auger peak. For more information on such specifications and their default values see Tables 9.4 to 9.6. All supported shells, characteristic x-ray lines, and Auger peaks are listed in Tables 9.7 to 9.8.

INTEGER may be specified whenever characteristic x-rays or electrons (distributions, scans) are to be visualized ( BEE, TEE, SEE, BEA, TEA, SEA, AEA, BEP, TEP, SEP, AEP, BEW, TEW, SEW, AEW, BED, TED, SED, BEY, TEY, SEY, AEY, DEY, DEE, AES, AEE, ADD, XCY, XCS, XDD). This string contains the x-ray or electron detector number, respectively. If no value for the detector number is explicitly specified then the default detector number ( 0) is taken. For more information on the specification of x-ray and electron detectors see Chapters 6.3 and 6.4.

 SCREEN(1)='BEE;;;2'
 SCREEN(2)='XDD;;Si,KA;1'
 SCREEN(3)='XCY;;SI,KA'
for instance, will open 3 windows on your screen, the first containing the energy distribution for backscattered electrons detected with the electron detector number 2, the second the silicon distribution taking into account the x-ray detector number 1, and the third an x-ray scan for the silicon line applying the default x-ray detector which is the detector number 0.

Screen updates, except for trajectories, are controlled by the NSCRUP variable. After each NSCRUP electrons the screen is updated. The default value for NSCRUP is 500.

Output to PostScript Files - POST(I):

Possible ACRONYMs are: PEB, PET, BET, TET, SET, ION, IOD, XGD, XDD, AGD, ADD)

There also exists an option to write data to PostScript files by using the POST variable in the &OUTPUT namelist. All quantities which can be visualized on screen, except all histograms, may be stored in such PostScript files. Generally, up to 6 PostScript files may be generated per simulation. However, PostScript files may become extremly huge and therefore it is not recommended, for instance, to write more than approximately 100 electron trajectories to a PostScript file. For the meaning of all these 3-character short-cuts and the exact specification of PostScript output refer to Chapter 9.9.

The meaning of SUB_STRING_1, SUB_STRING_2, SUB_STRING_3 and INTEGER is exactly the same as for the location dependent SCREEN(I) output with the exception that in SUB_STRING_2 only the WIDTH and HEIGHT but not the location ( XH and XV) can be specified and units are not pixels but 1/72 inches.

 POST(1)='ION,,1,4,0,2;250;Si,K'
for instance, will store silicon K-shell ionizations in a PostScript file with inches lateral and inches vertical expansion. Only the part of the geometry between 1 and 4 microns in lateral and 0 and 2 microns in vertical direction will be stored.

Output to ASCII Histogram Files - HIST(I):

Possible ACRONYMs are: SEE, BEE, TEE, SEA, BEA, TEA, AEA, SEP, BEP, TEP, AEP, SEW, BEW, TEW, AEW, SED, BED, TED, XCS, AES, DEE, SEY, BEY, TEY, AEY, XCY, IOV, IOL, IO2, IO3

All histograms may be written to ASCII files by using the HIST variable in the &OUTPUT namelist. The complete listing of the supported quantities and their meaning can be found in Chapter 9.9, especially under "Range" in the "HIST - Data for Output to Histogram file" section and in Table gif. Data stored in ASCII format may be postprocessed (visualized) by a great variety of different tools, e.g. POSTMINI (Chapter 10.1), GNUPLOT (Chapter 10.3) or VIDE (Chapter 10.2), to mention only a few. Generally, up to 10 histogram ASCII files can be written per simulation.

The meaning of SUB_STRING_1, SUB_STRING_3 and INTEGER is exactly the same as for histogram output to screen ( SCREEN(I)) explained in one of the previous paragraphs. In contrast to the SCREEN(I) output also 2D and even 3D histograms may be specified.

SUB_STRING_2 contains the file name. The default file names are 'job_name'_xxx.H#D. The 'job_name' is either the name of the input deck (default) or may be specified explicitly by the JOB variable in the &INIT namelist. xxx is one of the 3 character SHORT_CUTs. # may be 1, 2 or 3 and indicates the dimensionality of the distribution.

 HIST(1)='XCY;EXA1_20;Si,KA;2'
for instance, will write the result of a Si linescan, applying detector number 2, to the file EXA1_20.H1D.

Output POSTMINI SAV Files - PMSAV(I):

Possible ACRONYMs are: IOD, IO2, SEW, BEW, TEW, AEW, XGD, XDD

Some quantities (see acronyms above) may also be written to binary (POSTMINI SAV) files using the PROMIS SAVE file format by means of using the PMSAV variable in the &OUTPUT namlist. Data stored in such binary files can be visualized by POSTMINI (Chapter 10.1). Generally, up to 10 SAVE files can be written per simulation. For the meaning of all these 3-character short-cuts see Chapter 9.9.

Although XGD and XDD are not histograms, the specification of the output to binary files is exactly the same as for the histogram output to ASCII files ( HIST(I)). In the case of XGD and XDD, N# is the number of intervals for axis # will simply be ignored.

The meaning of SUB_STRING_1, SUB_STRING_2, SUB_STRING_3 and INTEGER is exactly the same as for the output to ASCII files by means of the HIST(I) variable described previously.

 PMSAV(1)='XDD;EXA1_20;Si,KA;1'
for instance, will write the detected Si x-ray distribution to the file EXA1_20.SAV. The x-ray detector number 1 is taken into account. The content of this file may be read and visualized by means of POSTMINI (see Chapter 10.1).

At the beginning of a simulation a status window pops up on the screen. This status window contains information like number of already simulated electrons, backscattering coefficient, transmission coefficient, detected x-ray intensities, used CPU time, etc. The appearence of the status window can be controlled by either the LSCRN or the LSTATW variable. Whereas the LSCRN variable controls any output to the screen, LSTATW is in charge of only the status window. If LSCRN is set to F then no output at all, and therefore also no status window will appear on the screen even if LSTATW is explicitly set to T. For additional information see Chapter 9.9.

There is an additional option whether to draw the generated quadtree in windows containing spacial output on the screen using the LQUAD variable or to write a backup file which is controlled by the NETRBK and the FETRBK variables. Such a backup file may be read in at the beginning of a later simulation and the simulation is continued then from the status of program execution when the backup file was written. For more details see Chapter 6.9.



next up previous contents
Next: How to Specify Up: How to Specify Previous: How to Describe



Horst Wagner
Tue Mar 19 10:24:55 MET 1996