Evaluation of computing capabilities of a hierarchy of mini‐to‐supercomputers: Applications to ion microscopic analysis

There has been a steadily increasing demand for more computational power in surface and interface analysis. This paper reports attempts to meet these demands through the use of different computing systems, ranging from minicomputer to supercomputer. Representative laboratory data processing programs for ion microscopic analysis are used to evaluate the performance of each system. The bottlenecks and other problems involved in running analytical programs on faster machines are identified and discussed. Results indicate that in order to attain the optimal cost‐performance ratio, programs must be tailored to specific forms required by the computing system. Algorithms must be formulated to exploit available vector and parallel processing capabilities.

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