Angstrom-scale ultra smooth IBAD Au thin films by in-situ ion figuring: A top down way

Angstrom-scale surface roughness ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) Au films were fabricated by in-situ optical monitored ion figuring. The surface roughness was characterized by AFM and XRR analysis. It was found that the root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness has been improved from above 6 nm for an as coat IBAD Au film to 0.462 nm for the in-situ optical monitored ion figuring treated IBAD Au film, respectively. Furthermore, films are characterized by a significantly lower RMS surface roughness and narrower peak-to-valley surface topological height distribution.