X-Ray diffraction

In order to do XRD, you need to go to radiation safety training (information here) and arrange for machine-specific training.

There are a few XRD systems that we use on a regular basis.

Bruker D8 Discover - Dearborn room #- Mostly used for thin films, although you can also put powders in it. Can be used to do phi scans, chi scans, rocking curve measurements, xrr, etc (these require special training because you have to use the scintillator, which isn't normally installed). Be sure to use the “snout” on the x-ray source, otherwise you end up with a broad background radiation signal.

Rigaku Ultima - Gilbert room # - In principle, this has all the capabilities of the Bruker system when it's working. The thin film stage is currently non-functional though (need date).

Rigaku Miniflex - Gilbert room # - Useful mostly for powders. The x-ray beam is too weak for much thin film work, though it may be usable if you have strong peaks (e.g. from epitaxial films).

Rapid - Gilbert room #- This machine is particularly nice for doing theta/2theta thin film scans because it collects data over a wide range at once, so you can get lots of counts in a short timeframe.

Status: 27Apr2011 functional

• Crystal Maker Home page for our lab software company. We own a 5-user license for Crystal maker, which allows you to draw crystal structures and manipulate them, and to simulate diffraction patterns. Mac only, so you have to use lab computers.
• VESTA A free, cross-platform program for making and visualizing crystal structures. It can also simulate powder diffraction patterns.
• Bilbao Crystallographic Server
• Crystallography Open Database Free data base of crystal structures & cif files
• Open Access Crystallography at Portland State Open access cif files

This is useful when you have an oriented film. Say you have an 001 film and you want to figure out a and b, for example. You could do that by looking at the h0l and 0kl peaks by tilting the sample. On the Bruker system, this would be a rotation in chi. To figure out what you should set the angle to, see Cullity Appendix 1 (A1-3 has interplanar angles).

If you happen to have Mathematica handy, you can use the following notebooks (instructions included) to calculate the angles quickly:

• Interplanar Angles - Orthorhombic
• Interplanar Angles - Tetragonal