The research activities within the STROBOS-CODE project took place on three main fields:
Method development: The methodological development of the STROBOS-CODE partners aimed on enabling the comprehensive 3D spatio-temporal characterization of various crystalline properties. Here novel correlative approaches were combined e.g. 3D imaging of crystal defects by X-ray diffraction laminography (XDL) with X-ray white beam topography (XWBT), rocking curve imaging (RCI) or visible light microscopy employing (circularly polarized) differential interference contrast (CDIC). In this way it is now possible to link the 3D defect arrangement and its evolution to the present strain fields to related surface features like steps or indentation damage, and to atomistic properties like the Burgers vector distribution in interaction with external driving forces. Furthermore, the project aimed on extending XDL with in situ capabilities capturing dynamics (e.g. by speeding-up the measurement procedures) and enabling its application for the characterization of higher-Z materials with considerable X-ray absorbtion like gallium arsenide (GaAs) or cadmium telluride (CdTe).
Instrumentation: Within the STROBOS-CODE project, the partners have specified, designed, construcedt, installed, commissioned, and exemplarily applied the CODE-station, a dedicated set-up for X-ray diffraction imaging. The instrumentation is compatible with the framework of the IMAGE beamline and its German-Russian end-station at the synchrotron radiation source at KIT, but its high mobility and flexibility allows its application for user experiments at any state-of-the-art synchrotron beamlines like at PETRA III or at the ESRF. The STROBOS-CAMERA system will be constructed and will be tested at the synchrotron source Sibir-II, Kurchatov Institute, Moscow.
Exemplary application: The methodology and instrumentation developed and provided by the project partners has been used for correlative 3D and 4D ex and in situ experiments, demonstrating the potential of the novel tools for the investigation of crystalline properties and their evolution under application relevant conditions. The application focused on two main objectives: A) the collaborators investigated the dislocation generation and evolution in Si wafers under processing relevant conditions with mechanical and thermal loads. B) crystalline defects like cellular dislocation pattern were investigated within higher-Z materials like GaAs and CdTe.
