Structural parameters of CVD synthesized Ga2O3 nanostructures from X-ray diffraction analysis derived by Scherrer, Williamson-Hall, Size-Strain Plot and Halder-Wagner methods–A comparative study

Abstract

Gallium oxide (${\text{Ga}}_2{O}_3$) nanostructures (NSs) have been synthesized by hydrogen-reducing chemical vapor deposition method at various substrate angles. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study confirms the polycrystalline nature of the ${\text{Ga}}_2{O}_3$ NSs with monoclinic structure. Here, a series of X-ray peak profile analysis models such as Scherrer method, Monshi-Scherrer (M − S) plot, Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot, Size-Strain plot (S-S-P) and Halder-Wagner (H-W) technique have been utilized to estimate the crystallite size and lattice strain. All the models are evaluated with their merits and demerits in detail, and the structural parameters determined from different models are compared. Among the X-ray peak profile analysis methods, S-S-P method is the most suitable since the data points more accurately fit in this method with the highest average goodness of fit, $R^2$ value. It has also been suggested that the anisotropic strain could have increased and shifted to lower angles crystallographic reflections as the substrate angle was $\ge$ 67.5 $°$.