X-Ray Diffraction from Small Crystallites

The classical crystallographic equations used in deducing structure from peak positions, peak widths, and integrated intensities of x-ray scattering are facile enough, but they involve assumptions that are not valid for extremely small crystallites. An alternate approach more generally valid is to use the Debye interference function. These two different approaches have been compared, using as examples a diamond crystallite containing three unit cells on a side (∼10.7 Å) and one containing ten unit cells on a side (∼35 Å).