A typical application of GISAS is the characterisation of self-assembly and self-organization on the nanoscale in thin films. Systems studied by GISAS include quantum dot arrays,
growth instabilities formed during in-situ growth,
self-organized nanostructures in thin films of block copolymers,
silica mesophases,
and nanoparticles.
GISAXS was introduced by Levine and Cohen to study the dewetting of gold deposited on a glass surface. The technique was further developed by Naudon and coworkers to study metal agglomerates on surfaces and in buried interfaces. With the advent of nanoscience other applications evolved quickly, first in hard matter such as the characterization of quantum dots on semiconductor surfaces and the in-situ characterization of metal deposits on oxide surfaces. This was soon to be followed by soft matter systems such as ultrathin polymer films, polymer blends, block copolymer films and other self-organized nanostructured thin films that have become indispensable for nanoscience and technology. Future challenges of GISAS may lie in biological applications, such as proteins, peptides, or viruses attached to surfaces or in lipid layers.