Image Plates as One-Dimensional Detectors in High-Resolution X-ray Diffraction

An image plate has been used as a detector for high-resolution X-ray diffraction of semiconductor heterostructures. A series of 2θ intensity distributions is recorded for different rocking angles ω for the sample and subsequently transformed to a reciprocal-space map. Maps of symmetric and asymmetric reflections of two samples are presented. A reduction in measurement time by a factor of 36 was achieved by recording information simultaneously along 2θ on the image plate compared to conventional measurement with a scintillation counter. Favourable results were obtained with broad reflections from samples with low structural quality and asymmetric reflections in the grazing exit geometry.