DOUBLE-CRYSTAL AND TRIPLE-CRYSTAL X-RAY-DIFFRACTION ANALYSIS OF SEMICONDUCTOR QUANTUM WIRES

In this work we show the potential of high-resolution x-ray diffractom etry for the non-destructive investigation of nanostructures and low-d imensional semiconductor systems. A characterization of the geometrica l and structural properties of corrugated semiconductor surfaces (crys talline surface gratings) and semiconductor quantum wires is presented . Double-crystal and triple-crystal x-ray diffraction measurements and reciprocal-space mapping are used in order to determine the geometric al parameters such as the wire periodicity, width and height and the c orrugation profile as well as the strain status of quantum wires.