I made Indium Tin Oxide(ITO) thin layer and calculated crystallite size by using Scherrer's formula for XRD results. And I measured film thickness by using alpha step equipment and that value was little bit larger than the crystallite size I got. I want to know that both value should be same or nearly same. If anybody knows please let me know.
Dear Naveen,
There are many constrain for using Scherrer equation to obtain actual grain size. Such as correct K value, absence of microstrain, stress gradient, chemical inhomogeneity, etc. I assume these conditions can not be met in the case you explained. If you have few samples I encourage you do electron microscopy (EM) characterization to know the exact value of gran size and film thickness. If you have many samples and EM is not possible for all samples, use EM for few samples and correlate that results with peak broadening you see with XRD.
Dear Naveen,
There are many constrain for using Scherrer equation to obtain actual grain size. Such as correct K value, absence of microstrain, stress gradient, chemical inhomogeneity, etc. I assume these conditions can not be met in the case you explained. If you have few samples I encourage you do electron microscopy (EM) characterization to know the exact value of gran size and film thickness. If you have many samples and EM is not possible for all samples, use EM for few samples and correlate that results with peak broadening you see with XRD.
I agree with Mr. Naveen, and I add that in your film surely you have different values of grain size, which highly depends of temperature, border effects, and others. I suggest to mesure the grain size several times and obtain a mean value. In the report it could be worth to include the value obtained using the Scherrer equation togheter with a discussion about the approximations to take account when using this indirect method.
Best regards,
Pedro
No u cant get the film thickness with the xrd. only SEM or TEM can give u the thickness of a film. Film thickness and cristallite size are 2 parameters which may be the same size, but definitely not need. For example depending on the direction in which your crystals grew along the layer.
Even a thin film is not simultaneously a monolayer ... do not forget that.
Thank you very much for your valuable answers Dr.Hossein, Dr.Pedro and Mr.Anke
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