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We present the results from a systematic study of several different material combinations for multilayer coatings on flat silicon and fused silica substrates. To obtain high reflectivity in a broad energy bandpass for hard X-rays (greater than 10 keV), a graded d-spacing multilayer structure must satisfy a set of conditions, e.g., low surface and interface roughness/diffuseness, good layer thickness uniformity, low residual stresses, etc. The coating process must be stable and accurately controlled over long deposition times, and allow good reproducibility from one run to another. The deposition method used was DC magnetron sputtering at low argon pressures (1.5 to 3.5 mT). The materials selected for the reflector/spacer pair were W/Si, W/C, Ni/C, and Pt/C. The initial work consisted in calibrating the deposition rate and optimizing the process parameters (argon backpressure, target to substrate distance, and cathode current). The main characterization methods used were: Atomic Force Microscopy in tapping mode, stylus profilometry, and specular X-ray reflectivity. In the next stage of the study, constant and graded d-spacing multilayers were deposited on Si and float glass substrates, with the design structure based on a computer modeling of the X-ray reflectivity dependence with grazing angle and energy. A specular reflectivity scan was performed for each sample at 8.05 keV (and also at higher energies for some samples) and was fitted using the IMD software. Cross-sectional TEM was performed on a limited number of samples to offer additional information. The analyses completed for W/Si, W/C, Pt/C, and Ni/C show for the best samples good uniformity and high reflectivity at 8.05 keV. The work in progress for Cu/Si and Mo/Si will be presented at the conference and will conclude this study of candidate materials and optimized designs for hard X-ray multilayer optics.
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