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Real‐time X‐ray reflectometry during thin‐film processing
Author(s) -
Peverini L.,
Kozhevnikov I.,
Ziegler E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.200675665
Subject(s) - reflectometry , specular reflection , optics , beamline , materials science , etching (microfabrication) , thin film , x ray reflectivity , scattering , surface finish , sputter deposition , deposition (geology) , sputtering , physics , nanotechnology , computer science , composite material , geology , beam (structure) , time domain , layer (electronics) , computer vision , paleontology , sediment
An apparatus and a characterization technique have been developed at the ESRF beamline BM5 to investigate in‐situ the evolution of the morphology of a film using grazing incidence X‐ray reflectometry. The instrument is capable of measuring in‐situ and in real time the X‐ray intensity specularly and diffusely scattered from a rough thin film during various surfacing processes. The variation of the specular intensity as a function of the processing time, recorded simultaneously with each X‐ray scattering diagram, is analyzed to infer the film growth rate, the film density and the variation of roughness conformity during surface processing. The potential of the method is demonstrated for two particular cases: thin film deposition by magnetron sputtering and subsequent film etching by low energy ion bombardment. The paper describes some recent achievements and present examples of on‐line diagnostics for which real time in‐situ X‐rays reflectometry proves to be a unique probe. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)