An empirical relationship has been developed that relates the product of the X-ray mass absorption coefficient μ and the extinction distance ξ from dynamical diffraction theory to the ratio of the integrated reflectivities that are predicted from both the kinematic and the dynamical theories of X-ray diffraction. The 111, 222 and 333 integrated reflectivities from samples of CdTe with significantly different etch-pit densities were then measured and analyzed in light of this relationship. The integrated reflectivity measurements suggest that the crystals are of similar crystalline perfection, while the etch-pit densities imply that one crystal is much more perfect than the other. The apparent similarity of the two samples in the diffraction experiments is interpreted with respect to a linear dependence of the ratio R_dyn/R_kin on the parameter In μξ. This result is consistent with the defect structures of the crystals observed using X-ray topography.

A simple relationship is reported defining the ratio of dynamical and kinematic values of the integrated reflectivity in absorbing single crystals in terms of the product μ_nξ, where μ_n is the linear absorption coefficient for depth measured along the normal to the diffracting crystal's surface and ξ is the extinction distance in a nonabsorbing crystal. This relationship is interpreted through comparison with existing (albeit mathematically complicated) expressions for the dynamical reflectivity in the two limits of negligible absorption and very strong absorption. It is shown to be valid for intermediate values of μ_nξ by comparison with calculated values of the integrated reflection from single-crystal CdTe using various wavelengths and 〈111〉-type reflections. This relationship's usefulness is discussed in the analysis of dynamical diffraction experiments commonly employed in semiconductor materials characterization.