Synthesis of Ni and Ti multilayer neutron mirrors by DC sputtering

Ni/Ti multilayers are widely used for neutron mirrors. Since efficient Ni/Ti multilayer neutron mirrors require many interfaces and micrometer-scale thickness, their synthesis for extensively long deposition time poses challenging issues. For example, the extended run time can cause a variety of issues, most notably sample delamination and overheating of parts. Delamination can also be caused by the substrate’s surface roughness propagating through the layers. In this presentation we report that intermittent sputtering can greatly diminish the delamination and thus increase the surface quality of these thick Ni/Ti multilayer neutron mirrors.