History of XRD - 2

• 1912: Max Theordor Felix von Laue (1879-1960) (U of Munich) thought that X-
ray has a wavelength similar to interatomic distances in crystals and the crystal
should act like a 3D diffraction grating. Along with Walter Friedrich (research
assistant) and Paul Knipping (PhD grad student), he did the first diffraction
experiment on CuSO4 crystal – Nobel Prize in Physics 1914.

22- 8
 Physics of Diffraction

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction

• Diffraction = apparent bending of waves around small obstacles or spreading of wave

past small openings ~ interference.
• Diffraction gratings must have spacings comparable to the wavelength of diffracted
radiation. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mNQW5OShMA
• Cannot resolve interplanar spacings that are less than .

22- 9
 X-ray interactions with a Crystal

• Like any electromagnetic radiation, X Rays are diffracted, reflected, scattered

incoherently, absorbed, refracted, and transmitted when they interact with matter.
• Diffraction occurs when each object in a periodic array scatters radiation coherently,
producing concerted constructive interference at specific angles.
• The electrons in an atom coherently scatter light b/c the electrons interact with the
oscillating electric field of the light wave.
• Atoms in a crystal form a periodic array of coherent scatterers.
– The wavelength of X rays
are similar to the distance
between atoms.
– Diffraction from different
planes of atoms produces
a diffraction pattern,
which contains information
about the atomic
arrangement within
the crystal.

22- 10
 History of XRD - 3
• 1913: Sir William Henry Bragg (father, 1862-1942) and Sir
William Laurence Bragg (son, 1890-1971) (U of Manchester)
determined the first mineral structure (NaCl) from XRD;
pioneered a new field of using X-ray diffraction for structural
analysis called X-ray crystallography – Nobel Prize in Physics
1915.

NaCl (200) (220)

22- 11
 Bragg’s Law
• Incoming X-rays diffract from the crystal planes. For constructive interference, the path
length difference (PLD) must be integral wavelengths, i.e. PLD = 2  (d sin q) = n 
• Once we know d, then we can work out the lattice parameters, 1/d2hkl = h2/a2 + k2/b2 + l2/c2
e.g. For cubic lattices (a = b = c), 1/d2hkl = (h2 + k2 + l2) /a2

reflections must
be in phase for a
detectable signal
extra 
distance or
path length
q q
difference Spacing
travelled by d between
planes Adapted from Fig. 3.19,
wave “2” Callister 7e.

Measurement of critical angle, Detected 

d = 2 nsin
qc, allows computation of X-ray qc
interplanar spacing, d. intensity

qc q
22- 12
 XRD Pattern
z z z
c c c

y (110) y y
a b a b a b
Intensity (relative)

x x x (211)

(200)

Diffraction angle 2q
Source: Callister 5e.

Two Types of XRD Instruments: 1. Single-crystal or Four-circle XRD (sometimes known

as high-resolution XRD) – great for thin films and materials characterization; and
2. Powder XRD – Primary for materials science. 22- 13
 Single-crystal XRD

Single-Crystal (Laue) Diffraction – a beam of X-rays of “all” wavelengths is

directed at a single crystal, which sits stationary in front of a photographic plate.
A series of diffraction spots surround the central point of the beam,
corresponding to diffraction from a given series of atomic planes.

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Four-circle XRD

22- 15
WATLab PANalytical X’Pert Pro MRD

22- 16
 Powder XRD

Powder Diffraction – a “powder” sample is used to ensure completely random crystal

orientation to get diffraction from all possible planes. When the incident beam satisfies
the Bragg condition, a set of planes forms a cone of diffracted radiation at an angle q to
the sample (corresponding to lines on the observed photographic plate), which can then
be used to determine the interplanar d spacing. Modern X-ray powder diffractometers
record all reflections using a scintillation detector (in counts per second of X-rays). The
pattern of diffracted X-rays is unique for a particular structure type and can be used as a
“fingerprint” to identify the structure type.
22- 17
 Powder XRD

Bragg Brentano parafocussing –

Theta-2Theta: X-ray tube is
stationary, move sample by theta
and simultaneously move detector
by 2theta (Rigaku RU300)
or
Theta-theta: Sample is stationary,
move X-ray tube and detector
simultaneously by theta
(PANalytical X’Pert Pro MPD) 22- 18
WATLab PANalytical X’Pert Pro MPD

22- 19
A single-crystal specimen in a Bragg-Brentano diffractometer would
produce only one family of peaks in the diffraction pattern.

The (200)
2q planes are
parallel to the
(100) planes.
They also
At 20.6 °2q, Bragg’s The (110) planes would diffract at 29.3°2q but
diffract for this
law fulfilled for the they are not properly aligned to produce a
crystal. Since
(100) planes, diffraction peak (the perpendicular to those
d200 is ½ d100,
producing a diffraction planes does not bisect the incident and
they appear at
peak. diffracted beams). Only background is observed.
42°2q.
Source: http://prism.mit.edu/xray 22- 20
 A polycrystalline sample should contain thousands of crystallites.
All possible diffraction peaks should therefore be observed.

2q 2q 2q

• For every set of planes, there will be a small percentage of crystallites that are properly oriented to
diffract (the plane perpendicular bisects the incident and diffracted beams).
• Basic assumptions of powder diffraction are that for every set of planes there is an equal number of
crystallites that will diffract and that there is a statistically relevant number of crystallites, not just
one or two.
Source: http://prism.mit.edu/xray 22- 21
• Powder diffraction is more aptly named polycrystalline diffraction.
– Samples can be powder, sintered pellets, coatings on substrates …
• If the crystallites (or grains) are randomly oriented and there are sufficient amount,
then they will produce a continuous Debye cone.
• In a linear diffraction pattern, the detector scans through an arc that intersects each
Debye cone at a single point; thus giving the appearance of a discrete diffraction
peak.

Source: http://prism.mit.edu/xray 22- 22

 Area (2D) detector enables imaging of complete or
incomplete (spotty) Debye diffraction rings

Polycrystalline thin film on a single- Mixture of fine and coarse grains in a

crystal substrate metallic alloy
Conventional linear diffraction patterns would miss information about single-crystal or coarse
grained materials
Source: http://prism.mit.edu/xray 22- 23