Imaging hierarchical structures of surfaces and buried interfaces by using X-ray scattering

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18H03479
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 80040:Quantum beam science-related
• Research Institution: Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: Tajiri Hiroo 公益財団法人高輝度光科学研究センター, 回折・散乱推進室, 主幹研究員 (70360831)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 豊川 秀訓 公益財団法人高輝度光科学研究センター, 情報処理推進室, 主幹研究員 (60344397)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 放射光 / 表面・界面 / X線散乱 / 階層構造

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Hierarchical structures of surfaces from an atomic scale to a mesoscopic level have been gathering much interest for deep understanding of corrosion, plating, and self-assembly and so on, where surfaces play an important role intrinsically. Hence, a mesoscopic probe in combination with surface X-ray diffraction (SXRD) has been awaited to provide a new opportunity for studying surface phenomena from the firm basis of its atomic constellation and morphology.
We developed a middle energy-bandwidth monochromator using an asymmetric diffraction geometry at SPring-8, which showed the maximum gain of 2.5. In addition, SXRD with high signal-to-noise ratio was realized using an effective sample cooling system. We also succeeded in image reconstruction of a sample having a fine structure with finer than hundreds of nm resolution by using coherent scattering. These results prove that we have successfully developed a method to probe hierarchical structures of surfaces.

Free Research Field

X線表面結晶学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

我々が開発した、結晶表面の原子レベル構造に加えてより大きなスケールの秩序構造すなわち階層構造を可視化できる手法は、これまで解析の難しかった腐食やメッキ加工、自己組織化など表面が重要な役割を果たしている広範な分野に対しても適用可能であり意義深い。研究の過程で実現した、入射光量を最大2.5倍増大させる非対称結晶光学系は表面・界面研究にとどまらず高光量を必要とする放射光実験にも活用できるため広い放射光科学分野への波及効果が期待できる。