X-ray properties and interface study of B4C/Mo and B4C/Mo2C periodic multilayers

We present a comparative study of B4C/Mo and B4C/Mo2C periodic multilayer structures deposited by magnetron sputtering. The characterization was performed by grazing incidence X-ray reflectometry at two different energies and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The experimental results indicate the existence of an interdiffusion layer at the B4C-on-Mo interface in the B4C/Mo system. Thus, the B4C/Mo multilayers were modeled by an asymmetric structure with three layers in each period. The thickness of B4C-on-Mo interfacial layer was estimated about 1.1 nm. The B4C/Mo2C multilayers present less interdiffusion and are well modeled by a symmetric structure without interfacial layers. This study shows that B4C/Mo2C structure is an interesting alternative to B4C/Mo multilayer for X-ray optic applications.