Comparison of surface fractal parameters by X-ray reflectometry and atomicforce microscopy

The oxidation of materials is a longtime studied problem since its importan t economic consequences. Nowadays, X-ray reflectometry is often used to car acterise the structure of low-dimensioned systems. For this reason, we deve lopped the application of X-ray reflectometry for the study of high tempera ture oxidation. The evaluation of the possibilities and also the limits of the application of these technique were studied. We show that X-ray reflect ometry is well adapted to study thin films and so to investigate the high t emperature oxidation. Surface roughness studies by diffuse X-ray reflectome try and the description of it in terms of fractal theory allowed us to inve stigate the morphology of oxidising surfaces. To validate this description we performed comparative studies using an atomic force microscopy. The frac tal model could be validated in the most cases. We have shown that this tec hnique is a promising tool for the study of the oxidation in its initial ph ase.