Characterisation of thin films containing Au and Pd nanoparticles by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and related methods

Structures of two thin film systems containing nanoparticles, have been studied by grazing-incidence X-ray powder diffraction and complementary methods. One of the systems was entirely formed of self-assembled gold nanoclusters on Si(100) wafers. The other system, deposited on glass substrate, was composed of palladium partly in form of nanoclusters embedded in a carbonaceous layer. The studies have been carried out by conventional and synchrotron sources of radiation and were accompanied by TEM and Raman measurements. For the Au films, the crystallite size, calculated from measured linewidths of reflections (111) and (311) using the Scherrer formula, was found to be 5 nm, and is in a good agreement with the values based on TEM and STM measurements (4–6 nm). The C–Pd system shows complex structural behavior revealed by the present investigation. The Pd cluster size was estimated from TEM study to be less than 2.5 nm. Analysis of obtained results can suggest inhomogenous deposition of the Pd clusters in the film, mainly close to its top surface.