Grid-based electron–solid interaction simulation for characterizing high-dimensional microstructures

•A new grid-based electron-solid interaction Monte Carlo simulation scheme for high-dimensional structures was developed.•The effect of interfacial diffusion on electrons scattering was investigated by the proposed simulation scheme.•The effect of nanopores and particle-packing structures on electrons scattering was investigated by the proposed simulation scheme. Three-dimensional (3D) micro- and nanostructural characterization using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and electron–solid interaction simulations (ESIS) has attracted broad interest in various research fields. However, 3D SEM-ESIS still faces key challenges in characterizing and modelling complex microstructures. In this paper, a new grid-based simulation scheme is developed to enable ESIS of complex microstructures. In contrast to the widely used region-based approach, the scheme presented here uses a grid of points to represent the spatial distribution of sample compositions, which allows numerical investigation of the effect of various geometric features such as interfacial diffusion zones and complex pores in the samples. The simulation results suggest that the interfacial diffusion zone and porosity significantly influence the scattering signals. It is believed that the presented scheme acts as a useful interpretation tool in understanding a wide range of materials and paves the way to SEM-based 3D reconstruction.