Dynamic Dark-Field X-ray Microscopy to Probe Mesoscale Defects and their Dynamics

Many problems in semiconductor physics require a detailed understanding of material defects at the mesoscale (e.g. dislocations, stacking faults, twins, etc.). While techniques exist to probe material defects, they are mainly limited to surface measurements or rastered scans that cannot measure the dynamics of irreversible processes. Dark-field X-ray microscopy (DFXM) can now directly image defects in single- and poly-crystals, spatially resolving the lattice strain and inclination with high sensitivity (ε~10^-5) and resolution across hundreds of micrometers. I extend DFXM to study structural dynamics, resolving how material defects show how crystals respond disturbances in their surroundings. I will show real-time movies that visualize how long-range dislocation patterns evolve in both temperature and time and will extend this to high-intensity X-ray radiation damage to demonstrate dynamic DFXM’s capabilities. These results present important opportunities for semiconductor physics, as they can now address important problems at the mesoscale. Results from these findings can directly connect to dislocation models that have previously relied on multi-scale modeling and indirect measurements for refinement.