The MultiTechnique Goniometer (GMT) is a general-purpose 2+2 axis surface diffractometer, well suited to most grazing-incidence scattering techniques (GIXS, XRR, GISAXS). It is primarily dedicated to ex situ prepared samples. Over the past years, it has been used for solid/solid, solid/liquid, and solid/air surface and interface studies, mostly at X-ray energies between 20 and 30 keV. Owing to the large accessible volume at the sample position, the instrument can also host a broad variety of sample environments, ranging from compact setups (e.g., electrochemical cells) to a large UHV system with two chambers dedicated to in situ studies of catalytic processes.

In recent years, the instrument has been mainly used for the investigation of buried interfaces, such as liquid/solid and solid/solid interfaces. The 20–30 keV energy range provided by the bending magnet source is exploited to access these interfaces by probing through one of the phases across its full thickness. Sample changing has been automated as much as possible. For solid/solid interfaces, for example, samples can be stacked, and automatic alignment routines have been developed to enable the study of series of up to 300 samples. In parallel, routines for automatic data inversion (e.g., reflectivity analysis on symmetric interfaces) have also been implemented.

The instrument has undergone only minor upgrades over the past four years, as its control electronics are fully compatible with ESRF systems and its mechanical components remain sufficiently accurate. Efforts have instead focused on developing or upgrading other beamline instruments. Recent improvements include the installation of 1) hardware enabling continuous scans and 2) automated alignment procedures, mainly using an on-beam-path camera.

Two-dimensional pixel detectors are used for diffraction experiments. We operate either a five-chip 256 × 1280 silicon pixel detector or a 512 × 512 CdTe detector, which can be mounted in both orientations with respect to its long axis (generally aligned along the Crystal Truncation Rod (CTR) direction, depending on the sample orientation). These detectors have been used, for instance, to record diffraction patterns from artificial gratings. Owing to their small pixel size, low noise, and high count-rate capability, they are particularly well suited for accelerating the acquisition of reciprocal space maps.

Many of the experiments performed on GMT are connected to applied research topics. We have investigated several steps of the SmartCut™ technology developed at CEA Grenoble and its spin-off company SOITEC, including ion implantation, direct wafer bonding, and fracture processes. Other technologically relevant topics have also been addressed, such as the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) at the electrode/electrolyte interface in lithium batteries. Strain measurements (GID, RSM) and size characterization (SAXS, GISAXS) of microelectronic systems patterned using state-of-the-art lithography have recently been carried out to further develop the Critical Dimension SAXS (CDSAXS) technique.