Search

Two different vacuum tight sample cells for in situ temperature dependent small angle scattering from liquids are presented in this article. In the first one, the sample fills a 1 mm thickness gap sealed on both sides by two thin parallel mica windows (volume 300 μl). In the second one, the liquid is injected into a 1 mm cylindrical capillary tube (volume 130 μl). The cells are lodged into temperature controlled chambers directly connected to the beamline vacuum path. Several important improvements with respect to similar instrumentation previously reported are: (1) versatile application of the mica cell, that can be used for all types of samples (gels, liquid crystals, and dispersions in organic solvents) and (2) the design of the chamber for the capillary cell allows registration of wider angle data and a convenient replacement of the capillary tube after each experiment. Signal to background ratio and data reproducibility were tested using protein solutions. We give a brief report of scattering experiments performed with different protein samples and two-dimensional data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the designed reactor is (i) to obtain polycrystalline and/or amorphous thin films by controlled deposition induced by a reactive sputtering magnetron and (ii) to perform a parallel in situ structural study of the deposited thin films by X-ray diffraction, in real time, during the whole growth process. The designed reactor allows for the control and precise variation of the relevant processing parameters, namely, magnetron target-to-sample distance, dc magnetron voltage, and nature of the gas mixture, gas pressure and temperature of the substrate. On the other hand, the chamber can be used in different X-ray diffraction scanning modes, namely, θ-2θ scanning, fixed α-2θ scanning, and also low angle techniques such as grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering and X-ray reflectivity. The chamber was mounted on a standard four-circle diffractometer located in a synchrotron beam line and first used for a preliminary X-ray diffraction analysis of AlN thin films during their growth on the surface of a (100) silicon wafer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]