X-ray diffraction from thin films, interfaces, and nanostructures

Thin films play an increasingly important role in modern technology. Layes of only a few nanometer thickness build up the material basis in microelectronic chips with continuously shrinking dimensions. Another example are 100 nm thick films protecting the blades of airplane turbines from high-temperature combustion gases. Investigation of the structural properties and parameters constitute an important and decisive step in the production of thin films and surface layers.

The Laboratory for Applications of Synchrotron Radiation of the University Karlsruhe develops modern techniques for production and use of synchrotron radiation at the electron storage ring ANKA of the Institute for Photon Science and Synchrotron Radiation (IPS) of the Reasearch Center Karlsruhe. Synchrotron radiation is used by the lab for the investagation of structure and properties of solids, thin films, interfaces, microsystems, and nanostructures.

Experimental techniques applied for characterization of thin films, interfaces, microsystems, and nanostructures are:

• high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD);
• X-ray reflectivity measurements (XRR);
• grazing incidence small angle scattering (GISAXS);
• grazing incidence wide angle scattering (GID);
• and reciprocal space mapping.