The elemental composition mixing in a Mo/Si multilayer structure under overheating

In the present study, the overheating degradation of as-deposited Mo/Si multilayers was investigated. Technological low-temperature furnace annealing at 300 °C for 1 h was used to simulate the overheating process. A multilayer Mo/Si structure with a period of 21.7 nm was created by DC magnetron sputtering. The dopant distribution in the as-deposited and annealed multilayers was studied by the dynamic- and 3D TOF-SIMS and SNMS methods. Periodic changes in multilayers were studied by the X-ray reflectometry method. It is shown that the cause of the Mo/Si multilayers degradation are oxygen gettering by the Mo/Si interfaces and the silicon diffusion into molybdenum layers due to the Mo/Si interface deformation with the appearance of randomly located places of penetration.