X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRD 2D)

Description

Application:

X-Ray powder diffraction is most widely used for the identification of unknown crystalline materials (e.g. minerals, inorganic compounds). Determination of unknown solids is critical to studies in geology, environmental science, material science, engineering and biology.

Other Applications Include:

• Characterization of Crystalline Materials
• Identification of Fine-grained Minerals such as clays and mixed layer clays that are difficult to determine optically
• Determination of Unit Cell Dimensions
• Measurement of Sample Purity

With Specialized Techniques, XRD 2D Can be Used to:

• Determine crystal structures using Rietveld refinement
• Determine of modal amounts of minerals (quantitative analysis)
• Characterize thin films samples by:
  • Determining lattice mismatch between film and substrate and to inferring stress and strain
  • Determining dislocation density and quality of the film by rocking curve measurements
  • Measuring superlattices in multilayered epitaxial structures
  • Determining the thickness, roughness and density of the film using glancing incidence X-ray reflectivity measurements
• Make textural measurements, such as the orientation of grains, in a polycrystalline sample