Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 208, 189-216 (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01619-x

Review

Multiwavelength anomalous diffraction and diffraction anomalous fine structure to study composition and strain of semiconductor nanostructures

MAD and DAFS for studying Semiconductor Nanostructures

¹ CEA-UJF, INAC, SP2M, Grenoble, France
² ICMA, Dep. Fisica de la Materia Condensada, CSIC-Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
³ LMGP, Grenoble INP - Minatec, Grenoble, France
⁴ IQFR-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
⁵ Aix-Marseille Université, IM2NP-CNRS, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, 13397 Marseille Cedex, France

^a e-mail: hubert.renevier@grenoble-inp.fr

Received: 15 December 2011
Revised: 23 March 2012
Published online: 15 June 2012

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to illustrate the use of Multi-Wavelength Anomalous Diffraction (MAD) and Diffraction Anomalous Fine Structure (DAFS) spectroscopy for the study of structural properties of semiconductor nanostructures. We give a brief introduction on the basic principles of these techniques providing a detailed bibliography. Then we focus on the data reduction and analysis and we give specific examples of their application on three different kinds of semiconductor nanostructures: Ge/Si nanoislands, AlN capped GaN/AlN Quantum Dots and AlGaN/AlN Nanowires. We show that the combination of MAD and DAFS is a very powerful tool to solve the structural problem of these materials of high technological impact. In particular, the effects of composition and strain on diffraction are disentangled and composition can be determined in a reliable way, even at the interface between nanostructure and substrate. We show the great possibilities of this method and give the reader the basic tools to undertake its use.