INTRODUCTION

SIMNRA is a Microsoft Windows program for the simulation of backscattering spectra for ion beam analysis with MeV ions. SIMNRA is mainly intended for the simulation of non-Rutherford backscattering, nuclear reactions and elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). More than 300 different non-Rutherford and nuclear reactions cross-sections for incident protons, deuterons, ³He, ⁴He and Li-ions are included. SIMNRA can calculate any ion-target combination including incident heavy ions and any geometry including transmission geometry and arbitrary foils in front of the detector.

• Fully graphical user interface
• Available stopping powers: SRIM 2003, Konac et al. (for C and Si targets), Ziegler-Biersack (identical to SRIM 97), Andersen-Ziegler, user defined
• Energy loss straggling: Bohr straggling, Chu correction to Bohr straggling, straggling due to charge state fluctuations, propagation of straggling in thick layers
• Geometrical straggling due to finite beam width and detector aperture
• Multiple small angle scattering, identical to E. Szilágyi's DEPTH code
• Plural large angle scattering
• Surface roughness (rough layers, rough substrate)
• Roughness of foils in front of the detector
• Live time correction and pile-up simulation, pile-up correction of experimental data
• Detector types: Solid-state detectors, thin (transmission) detectors, time-of-flight detectors, electrostatic detectors
• Data fitting (layer thicknesses, compositions etc.) by means of the Simplex algorithm
• Data analysis tools: Calculation of scattering kinematics, stopping, peak integrals, positions of elements, ...
• OLE automation for automatic analysis of large numbers of spectra

The capabilities of the program are fully described in the SIMNRA User's Guide (220 pages, PDF, 2496 KB).

SIMNRA is not free. It is a shareware program, which can be used for a trial period of 30 days without fee. If you want to use SIMNRA after this period, you have to register. See Installation/Registration for registration and pricing details.

SIMNRA is used at more than 130 laboratories world wide, and referenced in more than 590 publications (October 2009). It was the most popular program for the evaluation of ion beam analysis data in 2007 and 2008, see Citations.

Current version: SIMNRA 6.05, released in October 2009.

SIMTarget: This code was developed by Julien Colaux from the University of Namur, Belgium. It allows a quick generation of the target file used by SIMNRA regardless of the sample complexity. It can be downloaded freely from the SIMTarget website.