Thin film and multilayer coating development for the extreme ultraviolet spectral region

B4C optical coating represents, together with Ir, Pt, SiC, one of best choice for high reflectance in the extreme ultraviolet region. This material is also used combined with others materials in multilayer such as Si/B4C or as interlayer in Mo/Si multilayer to avoid interdiffusion. In this study we have performed optical, compositional and structural analyses for thin film of B4C deposited by means of magnetron sputtering and on preliminary samples deposited by e-beam evaporation. Here we report reflectivity measurements and the derived optical constants of B4C in the 400-1500 angstrom region. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.