During the last 20 years interest in high-resolution x-ray diffractometry and reflectivity has grown as a result of the development of the semiconductor industry and the increasing interest in material research of thin layers of magnetic, organic, and other materials. For example, optoelectronics requires a subsequent epitaxy of thin layers of different semiconductor materials. Here, the individuallayer thicknesses are scaled down to a few atomic layers in order to exploit quantum effects. For reasons of electronic and optical confinement, these thin layers are embedded within much thicker cladding layers or stacks of multilayers of slightly different chemical composition. It is evident that the interface quality of those quantum weHs is quite important for the function of devices. Thin metallic layers often show magnetic properties which do not ap pear for thick layers or in bulk material. The investigation of the mutual interaction of magnetic and non-magnetic layers leads to the discovery of colossal magnetoresistance, for example. This property is strongly related to the thickness and interface roughness of covered layers.

During the last 20 years interest in high-resolution x-ray diffractometry and reflectivity has grown as a result of the development of the semiconductor industry and the increasing interest in material research of thin layers of magnetic, organic, and other materials. For example, optoelectronics requires a subsequent epitaxy of thin layers of different semiconductor materials. Here, the individuallayer thicknesses are scaled down to a few atomic layers in order to exploit quantum effects. For reasons of electronic and optical confinement, these thin layers are embedded within much thicker cladding layers or stacks of multilayers of slightly different chemical composition. It is evident that the interface quality of those quantum weHs is quite important for the function of devices. Thin metallic layers often show magnetic properties which do not ap pear for thick layers or in bulk material. The investigation of the mutual interaction of magnetic and non-magnetic layers leads to the discovery of colossal magnetoresistance, for example. This property is strongly related to the thickness and interface roughness of covered layers.

The rapid growth in the applications of electronic materials has created an increasing demand for reliable techniques for examining and characterizing these materials. This book explores the area of x-ray diffraction and the techniques available for deployment in research, development, and production. It maps the theoretical and practical background necessary to study single crystal materials using high resolution x-ray diffraction and topography. It combines mathematical formalism with graphical explanations and hands-on advice for interpreting data, thus providing the theoretical and practical background for applying these techniques in scientific and industrial materials characterization

With contributions by Paul F. Fewster and Christoph Genzel While X-ray diffraction investigation of powders and polycrystalline matter was at the forefront of materials science in the 1960s and 70s, high-tech applications at the beginning of the 21st century are driven by the materials science of thin films. Very much an interdisciplinary field, chemists, biochemists, materials scientists, physicists and engineers all have a common interest in thin films and their manifold uses and applications. Grain size, porosity, density, preferred orientation and other properties are important to know: whether thin films fulfill their intended function depends crucially on their structure and morphology once a chemical composition has been chosen. Although their backgrounds differ greatly, all the involved specialists a profound understanding of how structural properties may be determined in order to perform their respective tasks in search of new and modern materials, coatings and functions. The author undertakes this in-depth introduction to the field of thin film X-ray characterization in a clear and precise manner.

Hardly any other discovery of the nineteenth century did have such an impact on science and technology as Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen’s seminal find of the X-rays. X-ray tubes soon made their way as excellent instruments for numerous applications in medicine, biology, materials science and testing, chemistry and public security. Developing new radiation sources with higher brilliance and much extended spectral range resulted in stunning developments like the electron synchrotron and electron storage ring and the freeelectron laser. This handbook highlights these developments in fifty chapters. The reader is given not only an inside view of exciting science areas but also of design concepts for the most advanced light sources. The theory of synchrotron radiation and of the freeelectron laser, design examples and the technology basis are presented. The handbook presents advanced concepts like seeding and harmonic generation, the booming field of Terahertz radiation sources and upcoming brilliant light sources driven by laser-plasma accelerators. The applications of the most advanced light sources and the advent of nanobeams and fully coherent x-rays allow experiments from which scientists in the past could not even dream. Examples are the diffraction with nanometer resolution, imaging with a full 3D reconstruction of the object from a diffraction pattern, measuring the disorder in liquids with high spatial and temporal resolution. The 20th century was dedicated to the development and improvement of synchrotron light sources with an ever ongoing increase of brilliance. With ultrahigh brilliance sources, the 21st century will be the century of x-ray lasers and their applications. Thus, we are already close to the dream of condensed matter and biophysics: imaging single (macro)molecules and measuring their dynamics on the femtosecond timescale to produce movies with atomic resolution.

The use of x rays has moved in the forefront of science and technology in the second half of the 20th century. This progress has been greatly stimulated by the advent of synchrotron x-ray sources in the 1960s. The undulator-based synchrotron radiation sources which have appeared in the last decade of the 20th century gave a new impetus to such development. The brilliance of the x-ray sources has increased by 12 orders of magnitude in 40 years and this trend does not show any signs of stagnation. The future x-ray sources of the 21th century based on free-electron lasers driven by linear accelerators will provide sub-picosecond radiation pulses with by many orders of magnitude higher brilliance and full transverse coherence. The x-ray sources of the newest generation offer a possibility to realize more than ever before the great potential of x-ray optics and, as a consequence, to elaborate new sophisticated instrumentation with unprecedented resolution and eventually to move in new directions of research in x-ray technology, materials science, fundamental physics, life sciences, etc.

X-ray scattering is used extensively to provide detailed structural information about materials. Semiconductors have benefited from X-ray scattering techniques as an essential feedback method for crystal growth, including compositional and thickness determination of thin layers. The methods have been developed to reveal very detailed structural information concerning material quality, interface structure, relaxation, defects, surface damage, and more.