A systematic approach for quantitative orientation and phase fraction analysis of thin films through grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction.

Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) is widely used for the structural characterization of thin films, particularly for analyzing phase composition and the orientation distribution of crystallites. While various tools exist for qualitative evaluation, a widely applicable systematic procedure to obtain quantitative information has not yet been developed. This work presents a first step in that direction, allowing accurate quantitative information to be obtained through the evaluation of radial line profiles from GIXD data.

Intensity corrections for grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction of thin films using static area detectors.

Grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) is the technique of choice for obtaining crystallographic information from thin films. An essential step in the evaluation of GIXD data is the extraction of peak intensities, as they are directly linked to the positions of individual atoms within the crystal unit cell. In order to obtain reliable intensities independent of the experimental setup, a variety of correction factors need to be applied to measured GIXD raw data.