Mapping local strain in thin film/substrate systems using x-ray microdiffraction topography

The authors report experimental data and modeling results for reflection microbeam x-ray topographs from a Si substrate strained by an overlying pseudomorphic SiGe film edge. The diffracted x-ray intensity from the Si substrate is strongly asymmetric as a function of distance from the film edge. A model of the diffracted intensity based on the classical Ewald-von Laue dynamical diffraction theory for an antisymmetric strain distribution indicates that the asymmetry in the diffracted beam profile is only due to the scattering process; individual intensity maxima in the intensity profile cannot be uniquely ascribed to individual features in the local strain distribution. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.