Comparison between MCNP and PENELOPE for the simulation of X-ray spectra in electron microscopy in the keV range

In this paper two Monte Carlo codes, MCNP (version 4C2) and PENELOPE (version 2001), were used in a cluster environment to simulate the X-ray spectra emerging from bombarding pure element bulk targets with mono energetic electrons in the keV range (30 keV). The simulation results were compared to experimental data measured on a JEOL-6300 electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray detector. The results from both codes were compared amongst each other as to find the best in terms of accuracy, ease of use and speed of the calculations.