SYNCHROTRON X-RAY MICROBEAM DIAGNOSTICS OF COMBINATORIAL SYNTHESIS

X-ray microbeam techniques (spot size = 3 x 20 mu m(2)) have been appl ied to characterize the composition and structure of rare earth activa ted Gd(La, Sr) AlO3 phosphor thin films grown by combinatorial synthes is. Using x-ray fluorescence, x-ray diffraction and near-edge x-ray ab sorption spectroscopy, we have measured the chemical composition, crys tallographic structure, and valence state of the rare earth activator atom Eu. These measurements represent the direct application of x-ray techniques to solid-state materials prepared by combinatorial synthesi s and demonstrate the power of x-ray microbeam analysis to nondestruct ively characterize as-grown combinatorial libraries. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(98)03239-2].