Here, grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction of PrNiO 2+x reveals an unusual in-plane period-six and out-of-plane period-four symmetry upon in-situ annealing, indicating a giant unit-cell superstructure.

In the semiconductor industry, 2D-XRD is used to characterize the epitaxial growth of thin films, assess the quality of single crystals, and investigate the strain and defects in device structures.