VACUUM-ARC DEPOSITION OF MULTILAYER X-RAY MIRRORS

A vacuum arc deposition technique for the production of multilayer str uctures is described. In the preliminary work described here, we used carbon as the low Z element and a heavy metal such as W or Pt as the h igh Z species to obtain periodic multilayers which can be used for X-r ay reflectors. The plasma necessary for the deposition was produced by two vacuum arc plasma sources, each coupled to magnetic filters to pr event macroparticle transport to and contamination of the films. The m ultilayer structures were investigated by Auger spectroscopy and Ruthe rford backscattering spectrometry, and several multilayer samples were tested by measuring the specular reflectance and off-specular scatter ing, and by comparing these data with calculations using a Fresnel ref lectance model. Analysis of X-ray results indicate that smooth, well d efined layers are formed with reasonably small interface widths. With improvements in layer thickness reproducibility, it appears that vacuu m arc deposition could produce useful multilayer X-ray interference mi rrors.