Capabilities of Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction in the Investigation of Amorphous Mixed Oxides with Variable Composition

X-ray Diffraction has been fully exploited as a probe to investigate crystalline materials. However, very little research has been carried out to unveil its potentialities towards amorphous materials. In this work, we demonstrated the capabilities of Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction (GIXRD) as a simple and fast tool to obtain quantitative information about the composition of amorphous mixed oxides. In particular, we evidenced that low angle scattering features, associated with local structure parameters, show a significant trend as a function of the oxide composition. This evolution can be quantified by interpolating GIXRD data with a linear combination of basic analytical functions, making it possible to build up GIXRD peak-sample composition calibration curves. As a case study, the present method was demonstrated on Ta2O5–SiO2 amorphous films deposited by RF-magnetron sputtering. GIXRD results were validated by independent measurement of the oxide composition using Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). These materials are attracting interest in different industrial sectors and, in particular, in photovoltaics as anti-reflection coatings. Eventually, the optical properties measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry were correlated to the chemical composition of the film. The obtained results highlighted not only a correlation between diffraction features and the composition of amorphous films but also revealed a simple and fast strategy to characterize amorphous thin oxides of industrial interest.