Addressing difficulties in using XRD intensity for structural study of thin films

Abstract

AbstractThe problem of structure investigation of thin films using laboratory XRD diffraction intensities was discussed as a matter of debate. Is the variation in relative intensities of the diffraction patterns due to crystallographic preferred orientation, lattice defects or both? The answer to this question shows a discrepancy in the literatures. The present work is an attempt to propose a possible approach to judge the most probable answer. Thin films of SnO2 were prepared by spray pyrolysis technique using solution of different SnCl2 concentrations (molarity); at fixed substrate temperature and deposition time. The theoretically calculated integrated intensities together with the experimentally obtained and calculated XRD data (relative intensities, texture coefficients and profile analysis) were considered together in order to get the proper picture of the structure characteristics of the prepared films. The complete picture can be assembled by integration and correlation of all the crystallographic information that are extracted from the diffraction pattern including not only the observed intensities but also the size/strain analysis and lattice parameters. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)