Glancing-incidence X-ray diffraction for depth profiling of polycrystalline layers

Abstract

On the basis of glancing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) spectra collected at different incidence angles, it is possible to obtain structural information at different depths. In the case of an ideal crystalline material, the integrated intensity of each crystalline-phase reflection is correlated to the irradiated volume of the phase. In this work, it is shown that quantitative information on the thickness of thin polycrystalline layers can be obtained by means of GIXRD. Experiments have been performed on thin films of gold with different thicknesses, sputtered on glass slides. The film thickness has been carefully evaluated by X-ray reflectivity (XRR) experiments. XRR and GIXRD data are compared, and the consistency of the thickness values of the crystalline gold layer is shown.

Interface Characterization of Cobalt Contacts on Bismuth Selenium Telluride for Thermoelectric Devices

“…A thin film can be probed through its thickness by varying the angle of incidence to obtain depth-resolved information about the structure and the interfaces. 6,7 GIXRD revealed the presence of CoTe 2 at the interface for the 90 nm sputtered Co film annealed at 200°C for 1 h. No other Co x Te y phases were observed for the as-deposited sample, as seen in Fig. 1.…”

Structural and Electrical Parameters of ZnO Thin Films Grown by ALD with either Water or Ozone as Oxygen Precursors

“…A Panalytical X'Pert Pro MRD diffractometer (Panalytical, Almelo, Netherlands) was used, equipped with: A X-ray tube generating radiation at a wavelength of 1.54056 Å, a hybrid two-bounce Ge (220) monochromator, and a Pixel detector [36]. Measurements were performed in two diffraction modes: in coplanar and non-coplanar Grazing Incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) geometries [37,38]. The θ/2θ XRD scans in the first geometry allowed us to determine lattice parameters, the FWHM of diffracted peaks, as well as identify the phase and orientation.…”

Characterization of Thin Films by Low Incidence X-Ray Diffraction

“…GAXRD makes pos-sible the use of X-rays for the characterization of surfaces, buried interfaces, and ultra thin films. By means of this technique, valuable information can be obtained regarding the thickness and phase crystallography of the sample [1][2][3], the change of its composition with depth [4], and its microstructure (stress, preferred orientation, etc.) [5].…”