Quantitative characterization of epitaxial superlattices by x-ray diffraction and high resolution electron microscopy

Quantitative x-ray diffraction (XRD) and high resolution electron microscopy (HREM) have been applied to the analysis of an epitaxial CoO/NiO superlattice. This example shows that the qualitative information determined directly from a XRD spectrum or HREM image is limited and can even be misleading. However, by a combination of quantitative intensity measurements and structural modeling, a detailed quantitative characterization of the superlattice structure is possible.