Different Methods of Full-Field X-Ray Diffraction Imaging with a Single Universal Instrument

Compact 6-Axis parallel precision manipulator with nanometer resolution helps the goal of designing a single universal instrument for the use in different full-field X-ray diffraction imaging methods.

Modern methods of X-ray imaging allow micrometer accurate determination of crystal properties using diffraction contrast imaging methods. For example, the development of so-called diffraction laminography in recent years has made it possible for synchrotron sources to three-dimensionally image dislocations (line-type crystal defects of high technological relevance) in industrial semiconductor wafers and to investigate their formation and propagation [D. Hänschke et al, Three-dimensional imaging of dislocations by X-ray diffraction laminography, Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 244103 (2012); D. Hänschke et al., Correlated Three-Dimensional Imaging of Dislocations: Insights into the Onset of Thermal Slip in Semiconductor Wafers, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 215504 (2017)].

The so-called “rocking curve imaging” allows a quantitative characterization of local crystal deformations (tilting, lattice spacing changes, defect densities) [D. Lübbert, μ-resolved high resolution X-ray diffraction imaging for semiconductor quality control, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. B 160, 521 (2000)].

With the aim of enabling the use of such different methods of full-field X-ray diffraction imaging with a single universal instrument, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Freiburg are currently developing a mobile and flexible experimental setup in a joint project. The basic principle here is that a crystalline sample is first positioned in a highly parallel X-ray beam, then brought into Bragg condition by suitable tilting and finally, the image impressed on the diffracted beam profile is detected.