Interface quality variations of La/B4C multilayer with increasing period number

Abstract

The interface quality of La/B₄C RMs with increasing period number is investigated by x-ray reflectivity (XRR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), x-ray diffuse scattering (XDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results demonstrate that the interface diffusion remains constant while interface roughness is a variable as the period number increases from 25 to 250. The interface diffusion of B₄C-on-La and La-on-B₄C are about 0.55 nm and 0.29 nm, respectively. Moreover, as the period number increases from 25 to 250, the interface roughness of B₄C-on-La increases from 0.12 to 0.3 nm and that of La-on-B₄C increases from 0.1 to 0.19 nm. The interface diffusion exhibits a significant asymmetry, while the interface roughness presents a certain trend of asymmetry. Therefore, the obvious asymmetry of interface is mainly attributed to the asymmetric interface diffusion.