The primary application of the X-ray diffraction technique known as “powder diffraction” is phase identification; it can be applied to any type of polycrystalline sample, whether in powder, bulk, or thin-film form. By indexing the peaks obtained during the measurement, it is possible to determine the nature of the analyzed material through an examination of its crystallographic structure.
The analysis of powder diffractograms enables the application of other methods, such as refining lattice parameters and determining crystal size, all the way through to structural refinement and quantitative phase analysis.
The instrument can be configured for coplanar grazing incidence measurements specific to polycrystalline thin films. It can also be configured for reflectivity measurements.
Diffractometer Setup
-
Bragg-Brentano geometry for a divergent beam:
- 2-circle goniometer
- Ka1 (Cu) wavelength
- 90-position automatic sample changer
- LynxEye 1D fast detector
- Parallel beam geometry Parallel beam geometry:
- 2-circle goniometer
- 1D parabolic mirror (medium Ka-band, Cu)
- Motorized XYZ stage
- Vacuum sample holder
- Operating systems
- Diffrac-Plus (Eva, Pdf Maint, Xch), Diffrac.EVA, Topas ver 4.2,
- XRD Commander (2.6.1) for data acquisition,
- Free software developed in the lab (Celref, OrientExpress, Gretep, PoudriX, etc.)