Quantitative Analysis of the Intensity of Interference Fringes of X-Ray Diffraction Line Profiles

Abstract

X-Ray diffraction spectra of thin films may show characteristic interference fringe patterns which wash out with increasing surface roughness. From the intensity of the secondary maxima quantitative data on the roughness can be derived. Model calculations are presented assuming that the distribution of heights about the mean surface level is Gaussian. The theory is applied to explain the diffraction spectra of single-crystal silver films. It is shown that some uncertainty in the results remains due to the influence of lattice distortions