"Measure a standard"! The genius that marked this comment with a "Thumbs Down" ought to gracefully exit the field of XRD now, if unconvinced yet :-)
This procedure is quintessential for the meaningful analysis of any XRD data. The sad news is, many using XRD today ignore this rudimentary procedure routinely. They then continue to pontificate gratuitously about any deviation from their expectations while analyzing the diffractograms. In fact, prior to (and/or post) each data gathering event, the "known standard" profile needs to be acquired in identical ambient conditions to verify instrument/optics alignment and for comparison as well as calibration. An in situ "internal standard" would be preferable to an "external standard" when possible, generally.
Are you studying monocrystalline, polycrystalline or other materials?
Are your XRD observations "spatially blind"? Meaning, is it a conventional equatorial scan linear diffractogram using the 0D approach of "spatial integration"?
Have you ever considered calibrating "zero degree" 2Theta precisely on your diffractometer yet? is that even meaningful to you? :-)
When is the last time you verified that the "flat" sample was parallel to the incident beam at "zero degree" 2Theta? How did you accomplish this? Critical for GIXRD, would you think?
Do you know anything about the "Chi" optimization for GIXRD? Would this matter to you?
How did you verify that the sample surface was coincident with the diffractometer axis (rocking axis)? Precesion!
Do you understand the difference/similarity between PRECISION & ACCURACY?
Increase the topics up top to 15 relevant ones. You may add/drop topics at will. See RG post below to get some ideas of relevant topics to this type of discussion. The circulation and hence feedback quality/quantity will thus be enhanced.
Finally, post your GIXRD data for the best feedback from the expert RG membership!
Yes, Ravi. Anyone who would thumb down a response of using a standard has no business calling themselves a scientist. I've seen some pretty egregious things on researchgate but this takes the cake. I wonder if the person who gave the thumbs down would care to give their opinion as to how to determine if a diffraction pattern is accurate? My guess is that we won't be hearing from this mysterious sage.