Abstract

Multilayers have many interesting and potentially useful properties (mechanical, electronic, magnetic, and optical). They have drawn considerable scientific and technological interest. Their performance is frequently closely related to their structural perfection. Interfacial roughness is an imperfection that is always present in multilayers. The sources of interfacial roughness can be considered broadly as induced by either the film formation itself or by interdiffusion between species during or after the completion of the interface. Interfacial roughness contains information about the underlying atomic mechanisms during growth. An accurate description of the interfacial roughness is crucial not only in understanding the influence of roughness on the performance of multilayers, but also in elucidating the atomic processes that occur during growth.

© 1994 Optical Society of America