Novel 7-circle diffractometer for the rapid analysis of extended defects in thin films, single crystals and ceramics

A novel 7-circle diffractometer using 2D or 1D position sensitive detectors has been developed and applied to the analysis of ferroelastic materials and superconducting devices. The diffractometer allows the rapid measurement of rocking curves with an angular resolution of 0.001 degrees for two orthogonal rocking angles and for the detector position. The detector can be rotated independently around two orthogonal axes, and the sample can be rotated around 3 orthogonal axes and translated in two perpendicular directions. First measurements on twinned crystals of YBaCu3O7 showed that the thickness of twin walls is ca 7 Angstrom. Routine investigations on magnetically aligned ceramics allow a full characterization of the angular spread within some 30 minutes. The diffractometer was used for the measurement of the thickness of thin films, their mosaic spread and twinning behaviour. The first results are reviewed.