Effect of working gas pressure on interlayer mixing in magnetron-deposited Mo/Si multilayers

Abstract

By methods of cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and small-angle x-ray scattering (λ = 0.154 nm) the influence of Ar gas pressure (1 to 4 mTorr) on the growth of amorphous interfaces in Mo/Si multilayers (MLs) deposited by DC magnetron sputtering is studied. The significant reduction in the ML period, which is evident as a volumetric contraction, is observed in MLs deposited at Ar pressure where the mean-free path for the sputtered atoms is comparable with the magnetronsubstrate distance. Some reduction in the thickness of the amorphous interlayers with Ar pressure increase is found, where the composition of the interlayers is enriched with molybdenum. The interface modification resulted in an increase in EUV reflectance of the Mo/Si MLs