Analysis of Surface Layers and Thin Films by Low Incident Angle X-Ray Diffraction

Abstract

Due to the current high interest in characterizing epitaxially deposited thin films required by the electronics industry as well as the increased attention in elucidating reactions between solid surfaces and the environment (e.g., corrosion), investigators have increased their efforts in developing X-ray procedures for analyzing films and surfaces less than 2 μm thick. For example, an entire session of the 1985 Denver Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis was devoted to this subject and an excellent review of X-ray diffraction techniques for characterizing thin films was recently published by Segmuller (1). Specific techniques include grazing incidence diffraction (2, 3), double crystal diffraction (3), and the use of the Seemann-Bohlin focusing geometry (4, 5).