The Characterization@UBC cluster is proud to announce the publication of its first inter-laboratory round-robin study on X-ray Diffraction (XRD) in August 2026. This collaborative effort brought together three facilities fall under the cluster umbrella - the Materials Engineering Electron Microscopy Lab (EM Lab), the Electron Microscopy and X-ray Diffraction Facility (EMXDF), and the Department of Chemistry XRD Lab.
Benchmarking powder XRD performance using the NIST Standard Reference Material 660a (LaB6), the study aimed to generate baseline data, assess measurement accuracy, identify potential instrumental or software errors, and foster cross-facility technical expertise sharing.
One of the key outcomes of this study was identifying a systematic angular offset during the initial testing phase, which prompted the replacement of a diffractometer configuration in one of the participating facilities. This finding underscores the importance of multi-lab comparisons, demonstrating how cross-facility benchmarking serves as a fast and effective quality assurance process that identifies potential instrumental faults.
The full report (can be found here) offers technical insights for facility managers, trainees, and researchers across campus who routinely use XRD in their work.