Reciprocal-space mapping for simultaneous determination of texture and stress in thin films

A method of reciprocal-space mapping followed by Rietveld-type refinement of the maps has been developed and tested for strongly textured thin films with fibre texture. The method is particularly useful for simultaneous analysis of stress and texture, especially in non-cubic materials. It could also be used for the analysis of other parameters, like film thickness, microstrain and domain size. Both of the extreme elastic models (Voigt/Reuss) have been adopted for the case of the fibre texture often present in thin films. The method allows estimation of residual stresses even for very strong [001] texture in hexagonal materials with angular half-widths of a few degrees. The procedure of two-dimensional reciprocal-space map fitting is described in detail; simulations are presented and discussed. The method can be applied to multiphase materials, as long as the assumptions of the elastic models (Voigt/Reuss) are valid in the multiphase film.