Grazing-incidence X-Ray Analysis of Surfaces and Thin Films

1991 ◽  
Vol 35 (A) ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. C. Huang

AbstractGrazing-incidence X-ray analysis techniques which are commonly used for the nondestructive characterization of surfaces and thin films are reviewed. The X-ray reflectivity technicue is used to study surface uniformity and oxidation, layer thickness and density, interface roughness and diffusion, etc. The grazing-incidence in-plane diffraction technique is used to determine in-plane crystallography of epitaxial films. The grazing-incidence asymmetric-Bragg diffraction is used for surface phase identification and structural depth profiling determination of polycrystalline films. Typical examples to illustrate the types of information that can be obtained by the techniques are presented.

1991 ◽  
Vol 35 (A) ◽  
pp. 151-157
Author(s):  
G. Will ◽  
T. C. Huang ◽  
F. Sequeda

The structural characterization of thin films is important for research development and manufacturing of electronic, magnetic, optical, and other high-tech materials. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction technique has bean used successfully for the determination of crystalline phases, structural-depth profiles, crystallite size, and strain, etc. of thin films with thickness's down to a few tens of Å, If the crystal structure, e.g. the distribution of atoms in the unit cell, or the crystallinity and texture (or preferred orientation) of a film is of interest, the conventional Bragg-Brentano diffractometer technique with the θ-2θ scanning geometry has been found to be appropriate.


1988 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 269-278
Author(s):  
T. C. Huang ◽  
A. Segmuller ◽  
W. Lee ◽  
V. Lee ◽  
D. Bullock ◽  
...  

AbstractX-ray diffraction techniques have been used for the structure characterization of Y-Ba-Cu-O and Tl-Ca-Ba-Cu-O thin films. A powder diffraction analysis of Y-Ba-Cu-O films showed that the films deposited at 650°C on Si are polycrystalline and have an orthorhambic structure similar to that of the YBa2Cu3O7 bulk superconductors. In addition to the conventional powder diffraction technique, both the rocking curve and the grazing incidence diffraction methods were used to characterize a YBa2Cu3O7 film on (110) SrTiO3 substrate. Results showed that the film was epitaxially grown and aligned with its substrate in a true epitaxy. Phase identification and line broadening analyses of Tl-Ca-Ba-Cu-O films showed that the films are comprised of one or more superconducting phases and probably contain stacking faults.


1996 ◽  
Vol 440 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Chow ◽  
R. Paniago ◽  
R. Forrest ◽  
S. C. Moss ◽  
S. S. P. Parkin ◽  
...  

AbstractThe growth by sputtering of a series of thin films of Fe/Au on MgO(001) substrates was analyzed using Bragg and diffuse X-ray scattering. The Fe (bcc) layer grows rotated by 45° with respect to the MgO – Au(fcc) (001) epitaxial orientation, resulting in an almost perfect match between the two metallic structures. By collecting the X-ray diffuse scattering under grazing incidence using a 2-dimensional image plate detector, we mapped the reciprocal space of these films. We characterized the correlated interface roughness starting with a buffer of Fe in which only three interfaces are present. The propagation of the roughness was subsequently characterized for Fe/Au multilayers with 40 and 100 bilayers. We observe an enlargement of the surface features as a function of time, evidenced by the longer lateral cutoff length measured for thicker films.


1991 ◽  
Vol 239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramnath Venkatraman ◽  
Paul R. Besser ◽  
Sean Brennan ◽  
John C. Bravman

ABSTRACTWe have measured elastic strain distributions with depth as a function of temperature in Al thin films of various thicknesses on oxidized silicon using synchrotron grazing incidence X-ray scattering (GIXS). Disregarding minor surface relaxation effects that depend on the film thickness, it is shown that there are no gross strain gradients in these films in the range of temperatures (between room temperature and 400°C) considered. We also observe X-ray line broadening effects, suggesting an accumulation of dislocations on cooling the films, and their annealing out as the films are reheated.


1987 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Lim ◽  
W. Parrish ◽  
C. Ortiz ◽  
M. Bellotto ◽  
M. Hart

A method using synchrotron radiation parallel beam x-ray optics with a small incidence angle α on the specimen and 2Θ-detector scanning is described for depth profiling analysis of thin films. The instrumentation is the same as used for Θ:2Θ synchrotron parallel beam powder diffractometry, except that the specimen is uncoupled from the detector. There is no profile distortion. Below the critical angle for total reflection αc, the top tens of Angstroms are sampled. Depth profiling is controlled to a few Angstroms using a small α and 0.005° steps. The penetration depth increases to several hundred Angstroms as α approaches αc. Above αc there is a rapid increase in penetration depth to a thousand Angstroms or more and the profiling cannot be sensitively controlled. At grazing incidence the peaks are shifted several tenths of a degree by the x-ray refraction and an experimental procedure for calculating the shifts is described. The method is illustrated with an analysis of iron oxide films.


1984 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Heald ◽  
J. M. Tranquada ◽  
D. O. Welch ◽  
H. Chen

AbstractX-rays at grazing incidence have a short, controllable penetration depth and are well suited as a probe of surface and interface structures. This paper examines the possibility applying grazing-incidence reflectivity and Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) measurements to such systems. Results are presented for an Al-Cu couple for which both high resolution reflectivity and interface EXAFS measurements are made. The latter results are the first interface specific EXAFS data to be reported. Distinct changes in both signals are observed upon annealing, demonstrating the potential of the techniques.


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