ABSTRACT
Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) is a convenient tool for investigating structures in the nanometer scale in the field of materials science, environmental sciences as well as in biology. Conventional transmission SAXS deals with samples in the “bulk” form, whereas grazing-incidence SAXS (GISAXS) can be used to investigate nanometer scale structures on surfaces. Anomalous SAXS (ASAXS) is a contrast variation method by which one can obtain element specific information about the nanostructures. The SAXS methods are complementary to electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy techniques. Providing statistically averaged information, SAXS methods are especially useful for obtaining structural information in situ as a function of time, for example, during a chemical process, or as a function of some external parameter such as temperature, pressure, or moisture.
