XRD-Bruker D8 Discover

This tool was purchased in part with funds from the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC). Please include the following acknowledgement in all your scientific publications that benefited from the use of this equipment: “This work was carried out in part in the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois, using equipment funded through Illinois MRSEC, NSF Award DMR-2309037.”

Also, please use the following link to report your publications (DOI or full reference) that acknowledge the use of the MRL facilities in general: https://go.illinois.edu/MRLpublication

Our Bruker D8 Discover Advanced X-ray Diffractometer is a vertical theta/theta system with a centric eularian cradle with integrated Chi, Phi and X-Y-Z movement translations capable of accommodating bulk, powder, and thin film samples. Motorized X-Y translation covers a range of 80 mm. Diffraction angle 2theta accuracy of 0.005 deg and reproducibility within 0.0002 deg. Equipped with a double laser unit (2 red lasers and a camera) for easy sample height alignment capable of accommodating non-uniform samples.

• Powder/Bulk sample size limitation (80mm x 50mm x 20 mm)
• 5” (127mm) wafers/films possible with 5” vacuum chuck.

• Airtight dome, low-background silicon-crystal specimen holder for environmentally-sensitive materials.

Uses the TRIO optic allowing for easy automated optical switching between Bragg-Brentano, Parallel Beam, and High Resolution 2-bounce monochromator options to accommodate a variety of experimental needs.

• Line focus Bragg Brentano configuration using programmable divergence slits.
• Line focus Parallel Beam configuration using a Goebel x-ray mirror in the primary optic. (40mm graded parabolic multilayer optic that creates highly parallel beam while reducing bremsstrahlung and Cu Kβ radiation)
• Line focus High-Resolution configuration with a Goebel x-ray mirror and a double-bounce Ge (004) monochromator (“channel cut configuration”) in the primary optics. (A Germanium crystal asymmetrically cut and aligned to Cu Kα for complete monochromation)

The system uses the Eigher2 R 500 K detector with 75 micron pixel size, with a total of 1,028 x 512 pixels, with 6.7x10⁸ photons per sec per mm² capacity. The detector can be used in 0D (point detector), 1D (line) or 2D (areal) modes  which are fully software integrated and configured using the instrument control software.

• Powder XRD.
• Thin film and grazing incidence XRD.
• High resolution epitaxial and single crystal materials.
• Reciprocal space mapping.
• Texture and stress analysis.
• 2D XRD data collection.
• X-Y mapping of flat samples.
• X-ray reflectivity.
• EVA data analysis and profile fitting software; TOPAS structure refinement software; Leptos software for stress and reflectometry analysis.
• Integrated software scan automation
• Double laser sample alignment