The increase in hard X-ray brightness in third generation synchrotron sources together with the development of fast two-dimensional X-ray detectors has enabled to perform time-resolved X-ray scattering experiments in the millisecond regime. Thus, the evolution of the thin film morphology at the nanoscale can be continuously monitored employing Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (GISAXS), either during thin film growth or processing. In this chapter, the current trends of time-resolved GISAXS studies are reviewed. After a brief introduction to the technique, we present exemplary results of metallic and organic thin film preparation using vacuum technologies, wet deposition of polymer thin films and self-assembly of colloidal thin films, as well as examples of thin film modification in, e.g., microfluidic channels and within working devices.
This book chapter review has been published in “Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering as a Tool for In-situ Time Resolved Experiments”, G. Santoro and S. Yu, pp. 29-60 in “X-ray Scattering”, Ed. A. Ares. InTech, 2017.