Crystal structure of defect-containing semi­conductor nanocrystals - an X-ray diffraction study

Defects of crystal structure in semiconductor nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous matrix are studied by X-ray diffraction and a full-profile analysis of the diffraction curves based on the Debye formula. A new theoretical model is proposed, describing the diffraction from randomly distributed intrinsic and extrinsic stacking faults and twin blocks in the nanocrystals. The application of the model to full-profile analysis of experimental diffraction curves enables the determination of the concentrations of individual defect types in the nanocrystals. The method has been applied for the investigation of self-organized Ge nanocrystals in an SiO₂ matrix, and the dependence of the structure quality of the nanocrystals on their deposition and annealing parameters was obtained.