Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Compositional modulation in In(x)Ga(1-x)N: TEM and X-ray studies
Zuzanna Liliental-Weber1, Dmitri N Zakharov, Kin M Yu
1Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. z_liliental-weber@lbl.gov
Abstract:
Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to study compositional modulation in In(x)Ga(1-x) N layers grown with compositions close to miscibility gap. The samples (0.34 < x < 0.8) were deposited by molecular beam epitaxy using either a 200 nm thick AlN or GaN buffer layer grown on a sapphire substrate. Periodic compositional modulation leads to extra electron diffraction spots and satellite reflections in XRD in the theta-2theta coupled geometry. The ordering period delta measured along c-axis was about delta = 45 A for x = 0.5 and delta = 66 A for x = 0.78 for samples grown on AlN buffer layer. TEM and XRD determinations of delta were in good agreement. Compositional modulation was not observed for the sample with x = 0.34 grown on a GaN buffer layer. Larger values of delta were observed for layers with higher In content and for those having larger mismatch with the underlying AlN buffer layer. The possibility that the roughness of the AlN growth surface promotes strong In segregation on particular crystallographic planes leading to compositional modulation is considered.
Related Concept Videos
X-ray Imaging
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Fundamental Principles
Accelerated...
Transmission Electron Microscopy
¹H NMR: Complex Splitting
Splitting diagrams or splitting tree diagrams are routinely used to depict such complex couplings. While drawing splitting diagrams, the splitting with the larger coupling constant is usually applied first.
Interpreting ¹H NMR Signal Splitting: The (n + 1) Rule
Determination of Crystal Structures

