Assessment of the out-plane and in-plane ordering of high quality ZnO nanorods by X-ray multiple diffraction

ZnO nanorods grown on buffered and non buffered sapphire substrates have been investigated by X-ray multiple diffraction using Renninger scans of the ZnO(0001) and ZnO(0003) forbidden reflections. In this technique the diffracted X-ray beam is simultaneously diffracted by several sets of planes, providing information on the broadening in different directions, as well as from nanorods, and from the layer on which they grow. The intensities and angular widths of peaks obtained by azimuthal and omega scans have been analyzed, making a direct comparison with conventional measurements of the full width at half-maximum of symmetric and asymmetric reflections. The analysis leads to establish that the peaks of the Renninger scan are highly sensitive to structural characteristics, providing information related with both the out-plane and in-plane ordering of nanostructured samples with a single scan.

► Structural characteristics of ZnO nanorods have been analyzed by X-ray multiple diffraction.
► X-ray multiple diffraction can provide mosaic structure characteristics from a single scan.
► Peaks of Renninger scan result to be very sensitive to structural characteristics.
► X-ray multiple diffraction can be an alternative analysis method to X-ray diffraction.