University of Queensland Order High Powered XRD from AXT/Rigaku

WARRIEWOOD, Australia - Feb. 2, 2015 - PRLog -- AXT is proud to announce that they have recently won a competitive tender to supply a high end x-ray diffractometer (XRD) to the University of Queensland. The system that won the tender is a 9kW Rigaku Smartlab featuring a rotating anode x-ray generator. This will be the highest flux XRD in Australia when installed later this year giving the University of Queensland the most powerful diffractometer for materials science applications for characterising powders and thin films in the country.

The Smartlab system that has been chosen has been tailored to the analysis of thin films, ultrathin films and epitaxial films, but will be equally at home delving into the structure of powders and other solid samples. In combination with the high powered x-ray generator, this cutting edge system will provide class-leading resolution and enable measurements to be completed faster than lower powered machines.

The system has also been specified with the in-plane arm and 5-axis goniometer. This allows another plane of analysis, further enhancing the systems’ ability to analyse thin films, especially where the film has a particular orientation.

Adding to the high-end analytical capabilities is the next-generation HyPix-3000 two-dimensional semiconductor detector with large active area, small pixel size and resultant high spatial resolution. Its high count rate and zero background are ideally suited to the high flux x-ray generator enhancing the systems’ ability to generate fast and accurate results. It also offers unrivalled flexibility, being able to seamlessly switch between 2-dimensional, 1-dimensional and 0-dimensional modes with the click of a mouse.

In addition, the University of Queensland have ordered the optional battery attachment. This will enable them to conduct high-level research into rechargeable batteries. This sustainable technology is a hot topic right now and the ability to understand how a system behaves both during charging and discharging allows researchers to more quickly develop and refine new battery chemistries.

AXT’s Simon McCall commented that “while it is always satisfying to win a tender against stiff competition, the Rigaku solution we specified really shines. Rigaku lead the field in high powered XRD having pioneered rotating anode technology, thus giving their users a big advantage over the competition. Furthermore, it future-proofs the system by giving it an improved chance of being able to deal with new applications and new materials that we may not even be aware of yet.”

AXT have been working with Rigaku for many years and are actively promoting other product ranges such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), radiographic Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), x-ray generators and X-Ray Microscopes (XRM) to the materials science, life science, mining and minerals and NDT markets for which they have a host of complimentary products from other internationally-renowned suppliers. For more information, please visit www.axt.com.au.