Imaging the displacement field within epitaxial nanostructures by coherent diffraction: a feasibility study

We investigate the feasibility of applying coherent diffraction imaging to highly strained epitaxial nanocrystals using finite-element simulations of SiGe islands as input in standard phase retrieval algorithms. We discuss the specific problems arising from both epitaxial and highly strained systems and we propose different methods to overcome these difficulties. Finally, we describe a coherent microdiffraction experimental setup using extremely focused x-ray beams to perform experiments on individual nanostructures.