At photon energies close to absorption edges in the soft x-ray range, the complex index of refraction, , of organic materials varies rapidly as a function of photon energy in a manner that strongly depends on the chemical moieties and functionalities present in the material. The authors present details of how these molecular structure specific variations in the complex index of refraction can be utilized to enhance and tune the contrast in reflectivity experiments of organic films. This near edge contrast enhancement mimics the specific contrast achieved through deuterium labeling in neutron reflectivity (NR). This relatively new x-ray approach, resonant soft x-ray reflectivity (RSoXR), thus combines aspects of NR and conventional x-ray reflectivity (XR), yet does not require special chemical procedures. The capabilities of RSoXR are exemplified using a number of polymeric bi- and multilayers. Furthermore, a direct comparison of RSoXR to conventional x-ray reflectivity and NR for polystyrene and poly(methyl methacrylate) bilayers verifies that RSoXR is an excellent alternative tool for the characterization of organic thin films. The influence of the longitudinal and transverse coherence properties as well as the divergence of the x-ray or neutron beam on the capabilities and limitations of each reflectivity variant is discussed.
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Research Article|
April 23 2007
Resonant soft x-ray reflectivity of organic thin films
Cheng Wang;
Cheng Wang
Department of Physics,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
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Tohru Araki;
Tohru Araki
Department of Physics,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
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Benjamin Watts;
Benjamin Watts
Department of Physics,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
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Shane Harton;
Shane Harton
Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
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Tadanori Koga;
Tadanori Koga
Chemical and Molecular Engineering Program, Department of Materials Science and Engineering,
Stony Brook University
, Stony Brook, New York 11794-2275
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Saibal Basu;
Saibal Basu
Center of Neutron Research,
National Institute of Standard and Technology
, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
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Harald Ade
Harald Ade
a)
Department of Physics,
North Carolina State University
, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
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a)
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; electronic mail: haralḏ[email protected]
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 25, 575–586 (2007)
Article history
Received:
December 08 2006
Accepted:
March 26 2007
Citation
Cheng Wang, Tohru Araki, Benjamin Watts, Shane Harton, Tadanori Koga, Saibal Basu, Harald Ade; Resonant soft x-ray reflectivity of organic thin films. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 1 May 2007; 25 (3): 575–586. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.2731352
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