Cross-sectional X-ray nanobeam diffraction analysis of a compositionally graded CrNx thin film

Cross-sectional structure-property relationship in a graded nanocrystalline Ti1−xAlxN thin film

“…Those were especially depth-resolved nanoindentation of the film cross-sections [8,9,10] and micromechanical testing of miniaturized samples prepared selectively by the focused ion beam technique [11]. Another important step to analyze volume-representative microstructure and strain across thin films was the development of cross-sectional X-ray nanodiffraction, which can be routinely applied with a lateral resolution of 50 nm [12,13,14]. Although the cross-sectional characterization of thin films is an emerging field, studies correlating local microstructure with mechanical properties are rare.…”

Reconstruction of crystal shapes by X-ray nanodiffraction from three-dimensional superlattices

“…Scanning experiments with beam diameters of the order of a few hundred nanometres have allowed the determination of the strain and shape of individual quantum dots and wires (Hanke et al, 2008;Mocuta et al, 2008;Stangl et al, 2009;Biermanns et al, 2013), of dot molecules (Dubslaff et al, 2010(Dubslaff et al, , 2012, of nanopatterned ridges , and even of the channel region of a working field-effect transistor (Hrauda et al, 2011). X-ray beams focused down to the nanometre scale have also been used for mapping the crystal quality of mosaic layers (Stefenelli et al, 2013), graded films (Bartosik et al, 2013), films grown on patterned substrates (Mondiali et al, 2014) and organic electronic devices (Paci et al, 2013). Recently the focusing of hard X-rays has been pushed down to below 5 nm (Mimura et al, 2010;Krü ger et al, 2012;Dö ring et al, 2013).…”

X-ray analysis of residual stress gradients in TiN coatings by a Laplace space approach and cross-sectional nanodiffraction: a critical comparison

“…Since the transformation between ðÞ and ðzÞ is not ambiguously defined, it is necessary to make very strong assumptions about the actual nature of the ðzÞ profile in real space (Birkholz, 2006). Recently, a novel XRD approach based on cross-sectional nanodiffraction was introduced Bartosik et al, 2013). The new technique uses synchrotron point (or pencil) X-ray nanobeams with a diameter (or thickness) down to 100 nm or even less to scan thin films at the cross section in transmission or reflection geometries.…”

“…The advantage of the new scanning method is that the depth gradients of microstructure, residual stresses and phases can be determined directly in real space as a function of the coating depth z. The approach opens the possibility to analyse stresses in graded thin films (Bartosik et al, 2013) and correlate them with texture, crystallite size and phase gradients. The characterization of fibre texture is trivial, including also full orientation distribution function calculation, especially in the case of in-plane isotropic thin films with a fibre axis oriented perpendicular to the substrate surface (Heidelbach et al, 1999;Keckes et al, 2012).…”