Characterization of nickel-copper multilayer and copper thin film using neutron reflectivity measurements

The use of neutron reflectivity measurement for characterizing thin films has become an important non-destructive tool. We have done a systematic characterization study of ‘Corning 7059’ glass substrate, a copper film and a nickel-copper multilayer deposited on this substrate by electron beam evaporation, using a neutron reflectivity measurement set-up, designed by us, on an existing spectrometer in DHRUVA reactor, Trombay, India. We have been able to characterize thicknesses of the layers with reasonable accuracy. Also we could detect a thin oxide layer on copper and interdiffusion at copper-nickel interfaces, with the present instrumental resolution.