Measurement of stress in nickel oxide layers by diffraction of synchrotron radiation

Abstract

The average in-plane stress in a number of polycrystalline NiO thermal oxidation scales has been measured by the sin²ψ technique at the Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury, using the high-resolution diffractometer 8.3, which exploits parallel-beam X-ray optics. There are a number of distinct advantages for stress measurements using this arrangement. Shifts in peak positions of much less than 0.005‡ can be accurately measured, and the tunability of the incident radiation allows control over the depth of penetration of the X-rays into the surface of the specimen.