X-RAY DIFFRACTION A N A L Y S I S OF THIN CLAY FILMS FROM DILUTE SUSPENSIONS USING G L A N C I N G INCIDENCE DIFFRACTION
-X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of small quantities of clay mounted on glass slides using conventional Bragg-Brentano geometry generally produces unsatisfactory low-intensity reflections masked by amorphous substrate scatter. Glancing-incidence asymmetric Bragg diffraction, an alternative uncoupled geometry, uses a fixed low-incidence angle and parallel-beam optics to increase path length through the sample and decrease X-ray penetration into the substrate. To evaluate this technique on thin soil clay films, results from conventional Bragg-Brentano and glancing-incidence diffraction (GID) were compared for progressively diluted clay suspensions separated from 2 southeastern soils with typical mineral assemblages. Patterns produced by GID showed overall higher reflection intensities and reduced substrate scatter, especially at higher 20 angles within the amorphous glass region, Using GID, positive identification of clay minerals was obtained from sample quantities as small as 0.005 mg cm 2 and suspensions as dilute as 29 mg L 1. Key Words--GID, Thin Films, XRD.
Depth‐resolved measurement of lattice relaxation in Ga1−xInxAs/GaAs strained layer superlattices by means of grazing‐incidence x‐ray diffraction
The state of relaxation in two different superlattices (SLs) of a system with large lattice mismatch, Ga0.8In0.2As/GaAs grown on GaAs [001] by molecular beam epitaxy, has been investigated by surface‐sensitive grazing‐incidence diffraction (GID). The SL is squeezed between the substrate and a thick GaAs top layer. The thickness of individual GaInAs layers ta (active layer) is the same in both samples, while the GaAs barrier thickness tb is different. We have studied the influence of the thickness ratio tb/ta on the state of relaxation for different distances from the sample surface. We find that for thick barriers the whole SL remains coherently strained and for the thinner barrier thickness the SL is partially relaxed against the the GaAs top layer. The GID technique was applied for the first time to obtain depth resolution of the lateral lattice parameter in a SL. It is demonstrated to be especially well suited for SL systems with a small difference of the average electron density between the sublayers....
Double‐crystal x‐ray diffraction from Si1−xGex/Si superlattices: Quantification of peak broadening effects
Double‐crystal x‐ray diffraction has been successfully used to study dimensional and compositional variations in Si1−x Gex /Si superlattices. For most samples studied an adequate agreement between theoretical and experimental diffraction profiles is obtained by using a theoretical model (kinematical) which assumes uniform superlattices with abrupt interfaces. In some samples, however, the superlattice‐related diffraction peaks reveal an asymmetric broadening which is shown by comparison with dynamical diffraction simulations to be due to a grading in layer compositions and thicknesses throughout the superlattice stack. Detailed analysis of the diffraction data identified a gradual drift of 1.25% in the Ge flux during molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth. The MBE system parameters were modified to compensate for this effect and allow the growth of more structurally perfect strained‐layer superlattices.