Complementarity of X-ray diffraction and RBS in thin film characterization

The third analytical task was performed on two SrTiO3 films on a MgO substrate. An apparent contradiction between the results of analysis achieved using both methods led to a conclusion that apart from an epitaxial part of the film, detected by X-ray diffraction, the film in one of the samples contained randomly oriented crystallites and an amorphous part, which was detected by channeling. In this case X-ray diffraction was selectively sensitive to the textured part of the film, while the channeling of ions, working like an integral method, was sensitive to all parts of the film with varied degree crystallinity.