DIFFRACTION FROM 2-DIMENSIONAL VICINAL SURFACES WITH NONCOLLIDING MEANDERING STEPS

We present a diffraction pattern analysis for vicinal surfaces with me andering noncolliding steps, so that the fluctuations of adjacent step s are not correlated. For these conditions, we evaluate the shape of t he diffuse scattering (additional to sharp peaks due to the long-range order of the steps), and show that the root-mean-square width, the ki nk density, and the correlation of the individual meandering steps can be obtained from the diffuse scattering for different scattering cond itions due to the intrastep correlation. The surface morphology is gen erated by Monte Carlo simulations performed at various temperatures un til the kink density is equilibrated but the steps do not collide. Thi s enables us to compare the direct statistical analysis of the surface s with the diffraction analysis. We demonstrate that the agreement is excellent. Furthermore, we discuss how these results can be applied to the analysis of diffuse x-ray diffraction from multilayers with nonco rrelated interfaces.