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Cr/Sc multilayers have been grown on Si substrates using dc magnetron sputtering. The multilayers are intended as condenser mirrors in a soft x-ray microscope operating at the wavelength 3.374 nm. They were designed for normal reflection of the first and second orders, with multilayer periods of 1.692 and 3.381 nm, and layer thickness ratios of 0.471 and 0.237, respectively. At-wavelength soft-x-ray reflectivity measurements were carried out using a reflectometer with a compact soft-x-ray laser-plasma source. The multilayers were irradiated during growth with Ar ions, varying both in energy (9 to 113 eV) and flux, in order to stimulate the adatom mobility and improve the interface flatness. It was found that to obtain a maximum soft x-ray reflectivity with a low flux (Cr=0.76, Sc=2.5) of Ar ions a rather high energy of 53 eV was required. Such energy also caused intermixing of the layers. By the use of a solenoid surrounding the substrate, the arriving ion-to-metal flux ratio could be increased 10 times and the required ion energy could be decreased. A high flux (Cr=7.1, Sc=23.1) of low-energy (9 eV) Ar ions yielded the most favorable growth condition, limiting the intermixing with a subsistent good surface flatness. © 2002 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Cr/Sc multilayer X-ray mirrors intended for normal incidence reflection in the water window wavelength range, ?=[2.4-4.4nm], have been grown by ion-assisted sputter deposition and characterized using soft and hard X-ray reflectivity. By extracting low-energy ions, with energies, Eion, ranging from 9 to 113eV and with ion-to-metal flux ratios, F, between 0.76 and 23.1, from the sputtering plasma to the growing film, the nano-structure of the multilayer interfaces could be modified. A significantly increased soft X-ray reflectivity, using ?=3.374nm, for Cr/Sc multilayers with layer thicknesses in the range 0.4-2.8nm, was obtained when high ion-to-metal flux ratios, FCr=7.1 and FSc=23.1, and low energy ions, Eion=9eV, were used. An experimental reflectivity of 5.5% was obtained at 76° for a multilayer with 400 bi-layers. Simulations of the reflectivity data showed that the interface widths are <0.425nm. It could be concluded that roughness of low spatial frequency is reduced at lower ion energies than the high spatial frequency which was eliminated at the expense of intermixing at the interfaces at higher ion energies. The predicted performance of normal incidence multilayer mirrors grown at optimum conditions and designed for ?=3.374 and 3.115nm indicates possible reflectivities of 6.5% and 14%, respectively. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cr/Sc multilayers have been grown on Si substrates using DC magnetron sputtering. The multilayers are intended as condenser mirrors in a soft x-ray microscope operating at the wavelength 3.374 nm. They were designed for normal reflection of the first and second order with multilayer periods of 1.692 nm and 3.381 nm, and layer thickness ratios of 0.471 and 0.237, respectively. At-wavelength soft x-ray reflectivity measurements were carried out using a reflectometer with a compact soft x-ray laser-plasma source. The multilayers were irradiated during growth with Ar ions, varying both in energy (9-113 eV) and flux, in order to stimulate the ad-atom mobility and improve the interface flatness. It was found that to obtain a maximum soft x-ray reflectivity with a low flux (Cr=0.76, Sc=2.5) of Ar ions a rather high energy of 53 eV was required. Such energy also caused intermixing of the layers. By the use of a solenoid surrounding the substrate, the arriving ion-to-metal flux ratio could be increased 10 times and the ion energy could be decreased. A high flux (Cr=7.1, Sc=23.1) of low energy (9 eV) Ar ions founded the most favourable growth condition in order to limit the intermixing with a subsistent surface flatness.

We describe a compact soft x-ray reflectometer for in-house characterization of water-window multilayer optics. The instrument is based on a line-emitting, liquid-jet, laser-plasma source in combination with angular scanning of the studied multilayer optics. With a proper choice of target liquid and thin-film filters, one or a few lines of well-defined wavelength dominate the spectrum and multilayer periods are measured with an accuracy of 0.003 nm using a multi-line calibration procedure. Absolute reflectivity may also be estimated with the instrument. The typical measurement time is currently 10 min. Although the principles of the reflectometer may be used in the entire soft x-ray and extreme ultraviolet range, the current instrument is primarily directed towards normal-incidence multilayer optics for water-window x-ray microscopy, and is thus demonstrated on W/B4C multilayers for this wavelength range. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.