Sevrukova V. Influence of magnetron deposition parameters and molybdenum layer thickness on structural transformations in Mo/Si multilayers

Object: three-layer films Si/Mo/Si with a thickness of molybdenum layer from 0.1 to 30 nm and multilayer periodic coatings Mo/Si. The purpose: determination of the relationship between the structure, morphology and chemical composition of the intermediate phases of the multilayer coating as a function of magnetron sputtering parameters for optimization of the production of multilayer X-ray mirrors Mo/Si. Methods: high-resolution cross-sectional and in plain electron microscopy, the X-ray phase analysis, small-angle X-ray diffractiometry with mathematical modeling of small-angle X-ray spectra, measurements of the optical characteristics of multilayer X-ray mirrors Mo/Si using synchrotron radiation. Results: for the first by method of dark field electron microscopy it was revealed that at the small nominal thickness of molybdenum 1,5 < tMonom < 1,9 nm deposited by magnetron sputtering on an amorphous silicon, this layer consists from clusters with sizes of 1 - 2 nm. It is shown that the transition from the amorphous-cluster to the crystalline state takes place in the range of thickness 1,9 < tMonom < 2,5 nm, not abruptly, as previously thought. In the middle of this range the amorphous-cluster and crystalline phases coexistence is observed. Field of application: solid state physics, physics of multilayer systems