Interface structure in nanoscale multilayers near continuous-to-discontinuous regime

Interfacial atomic diffusion, reaction, and formation of microstructure in nanoscale level are investigated in W/B4C multilayer (ML) system as functions of thickness in ultrathin limit. Hard x-ray reflectivity (XRR) and x-ray diffuse scattering in conjunction with x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) in soft x-ray and hard x-ray regimes and depth profiling x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to precisely evaluate detailed interfacial structure by systematically varying the individual layer thickness from continuous-to-discontinuous regime. It is observed that the interfacial morphology undergoes an unexpected significant modification as the layer thickness varies from continuous-to-discontinuous regime. The interfacial atomic diffusion increases, the physical density of W layer decreases and that of B4C layer increases, and further more interestingly the in-plane correlation length decreases substantially as the layer thickness varies from continuous-to-discontinuous regime. T...