UiO MiNaLab is equipped with a Rigaku SmartLab 3kW high-resolution X-ray Diffractometer coupled with a HyPix 3000 high-energy resolution 2D multidimensional detector that supports 0D, 1D and 2D measurement modes. The equipment is particularly suitable for the structural characterization of polycrystalline and epitaxial thin-films at ambient conditions and allows powder diffraction, in-plane scattering and mapping measurements within suitable samples. Installed in December 2022.

Applications

• Measurement in Bragg-Brentano (0D and 1D). Low background measurement and XRF reduction mode of the 2D detector.
• Phase ID (search match), crystallinity, crystallite size and micro strain analysis.
• X-ray Reflectivity (XRR) to evaluate layer thickness, density and surface roughness.
• High resolution rocking curve analysis on epitaxial layers.
• Reciprocal Space Map (RSM) measurements.
• 2D XRD measurements and Wide Range (2D) RSM using HyPix3000 detector.
• Micro diffraction and 4 in. wafer mapping.
• Out-of-plane and in-plane Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) on thin-films.
• Texture analysis (out-of-plane and in-plane pole figure measurements) on materials with a preferred orientation of the crystallites.

Main Specifications

• Sealed-off Cu anode X-ray tube, Ceramics: max 2.2 kW; Long fine focus.
• Incident Optics: Cross beam optics (CBO) and selection slits switching a direct beam for focusing optics (Bragg-Brentano optics) and a monochromated parallel beam using a paraboloidal multilayer mirror; Ge (440) 4-bounce monochromator; incident soller slits; micro area selection slits; length limiting slits and collimators (incl. in-plane parallel slit collimator, PSC).
• Receiving Optics: Parallel slit analyzer (PSA 0.228°) for GIXRD (in-plane and out-of-plane); parallel slit analyzer (PSA 0.5°) for thin films (in-plane and out-of-plane) and receiving Soller slits
• Goniometer System and Sample Stage: High-precision theta-theta goniometer featuring a horizontal sample mount; 3-axes attachment platform for thin film sample measurement with χ (tilt), Z (height) and φ (rotation). Attachment head mounted on the Phi axis of the XY attachment head provides area-map measurements. RxRy attachment head providing sample orientation adjustment e.g., when executing in-plane or RSM measurements.
• Detector: HyPix–3000 hybrid pixel 2-dimensional detector (0D, 1D and 2D mode available) with 38.5 mm x 77.5 mm active area; spatial resolution 100 μm x 100 μm per pixel; > 10⁶ cps/pixel count rate. Scattering protectors available, reducing the background at low angles.

Software Packages and Databases

• SmartLab Studio II measurement and analysis suite, an integrated software platform incorporating all functions from measurement to analysis, data visualization and reporting.
• Available plugins: Powder XRD (profile analysis for integral intensity, peak search, FWHM, “crystallite size and lattice strain” analysis), XRR (oscillation analysis and fitting of XRR profiles), HRXRD (simulation and analyses of rocking curve and reciprocal space mapping), Texture (pole figure data and analysis).
• Phase identification based on the PDF-2 2020 database from the International Center of Diffraction Data (ICDD) and the Crystallography Open Database (COD).