  Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was used to quantitatively study the
morphology of aligned, mono-disperse conical etched ion tracks in thin films of
amorphous silicon dioxide with aspect ratios of around 6:1, and in
polycarbonate foils with aspect ratios of around 1000:1. This paper presents
the measurement procedure and methods developed for the analysis of the
scattering images and shows results obtained for the two material systems. To
enable accurate parameter extraction from the data collected from conical
scattering objects a model fitting the 2-D detector images was developed. The
analysis involved fitting images from a sequence of measurements with different
sample tilts to minimise errors which may have been introduced due to the
experimental set-up. The model was validated by the exploitation of the
geometric relationship between the sample tilt angle and the cone opening
angle, to an angle observed in the features of the SAXS images. We also
demonstrate that a fitting procedure for 1-D data extracted from the scattering
images using a hard cylinder model can also be used to extract the cone size.
The application of these techniques enables us to reconstruct the cone
morphologies with unprecedented precision.
