Interface study and performance of large layer pair ultra-short period W/B{sub 4}C X-ray multilayer
The nature of interfaces in ultra short period W/B{sub 4}C multilayers (MLs) is studied using hard x-ray reflectivity and cross sectional transmission electron microscope. W/B{sub 4}C MLs are fabricated using magnetron sputtering system with systematic varying thickness of both W and B{sub 4}C layers from ∼5 to 30 Å keeping number of layer pairs fixed at 10. It is observed that in low period W/B{sub 4}C ML, as the layer thickness decreases, the interdiffusion plays a significant role because of the discontinuous nature of film. This gives variation of density and roughness of the layer as well as generates thickness errors in the ML structure due to volume changes which is originated by interdifusion process. Finally, W/B{sub 4}C MLs with large number of layer pairs (300) are fabricated with periodicity d= 20 Å which gives ∼54 % of reflectivity at energy 8.047 keV.