A review of x-ray analysis techniques applied to the characterization of nanomaterials will be presented with focus on x-ray lab source instrumentation similar to the facilities available at the Birck Nanotechnology Center. Practical aspects of data acquisition and interpretation using x-ray diffraction and reflectivity will be discussed. Cases studies of materials characterization in various fields will be used to present x-ray based analytical methods employed in the determination of phases and crystallographic structure, grain sizes, strain, preferred orientation, residual stress, layer thickness, interface roughness, composition and mosaicity. Examples will range from powder diffraction analysis to thin film characterization and high-resolution reciprocal space mapping. Potential artifacts during measurement and data interpretation will also be discussed in addition to cross-comparison of data acquired by other complementary techniques.

Dr. Sardela holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology (Linkoping University, Sweden, 1994) with emphasis in x-ray scattering and characterization of semiconductor materials. He worked four years in industrial analytical laboratories in the Silicon Valley, California. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Sardela has been a Senior Research Scientist and manager of the x-ray analytical facilities at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The Birk Nanotechnology Center, The Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue Discovery Park, The NASA Institute for Nanoelectronics and Computing, The Network for Computational Nanotechnology, VEECO, NCN Student Leadership Council, Department of Chemistry, Department of Physics, School of Chemical Engineering, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Mauro Sardela (2009), "X-ray Diffraction and Reflectivity Analysis of Thin Films and Nanomaterials," https://nanohub.org/resources/7955.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. characterization
2. crystals
3. experimental
4. Materials Characterization
5. materials science
6. nanomaterials
7. thin films
8. tutorial
9. X-Ray crystallography
10. x-ray diffraction