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Texture analysis of NiW alloy

Background

Textured NiW alloy is commonly used as a substrate material for the deposition of superconducting material, either for tape fabrication or for superconducting electronics. The interaction between the weakly ferromagnetic NiW and the superconductor is important for the applications, but is sensitive to the texture of the NiW substrate.

Investigation

In the figure below, we present a texture analysis of a commercial NiW alloy using Rigaku's SmartLab multipurpose diffractometer.

A texture  analysis of a commercial NiW alloy

The alloy has a cubic structure, so the (111) pole figure shows a four-fold symmetry. In addition, the beta cut across the four equivalent (111) peaks is a conventional phi-scan, a technique frequently used for rough measurement of the texture. The alpha cut across the diagonal (111) peaks is equivalent to a rocking curve scan, a widely accepted method to measure crystal quality. SmartLab enables automatic pole figure measurement, from optics alignment, sample alignment, to measurement condition setup.