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Microstructure and composition analysis of periodic multilayer structure consisting of a low electron density contrast (EDC) material combination by grazing incidence hard X-ray reflectivity (GIXR), resonant soft X-ray reflectivity (RSXR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are presented. Measurements of reflectivity at different energies allow combining the sensitivity of GIXR data to microstructural parameters like layer thicknesses and interfacing roughness, with the layer composition sensitivity of RSXR. These aspects are shown with an example of 10-period C/B4C multilayer. TEM observation reveals that interfaces C on B4C and B4C on C are symmetric. Although GIXR provides limited structural information when EDC between layers is low, measurements using a scattering technique like GIXR with a microscopic technique like TEM improve the microstructural information of low EDC combination. The optical constants of buried layers have been derived by RSXR. The derived optical constants from the measured RSXR data suggested the presence of excess carbon into the boron carbide layer.

X-ray reflectivity measurements were performed on several thin foil gold mirrors fabricated in TIFR for a Soft X-ray Imaging Telescope. The mirrors were made from thin aluminum foils with a reflecting layer of sputtered gold transferred from a smooth glass mandrel using an epoxy. X-ray reflectivity measurements were performed on a sample of randomly selected mirrors using CuK α (8.05 keV), CrK α (5.41 keV) X-rays and also at several energies in the energy range of 155-300 eV using the synchrotron source Indus-1. It was found that the roughness of the low-density top gold layer as obtained from the fitting of X-ray reflectivity data for CuK α radiation is relatively more as compared to that obtained from the CrK α radiation. This indicates that in the mirrors made by this process, the upper surfaces are smoother as compared to the deeper layers. It was also observed that the critical angle almost vanishes in the very low energy range of 290-300 eV due to strong absorption effects of the low density material sitting on top of these mirrors. Due to this absorption effect, efficiency of these mirrors reduces in this energy range. This is first time that reflectivity measurements are being reported for very soft X-rays (≤ 300 eV) for mirrors made for any X-ray astronomy mission.

In 8-to 20-keV photon energy region, ruthenium and carbon thin films are used in multilayer monochromators. In the present study, this material combination is explored for X-ray waveguide applications in hard X-ray region. The structural parameters (thickness of each layer) of Ru/C/Ru waveguide structure are optimized to get maximum intensity enhancement of fundamental mode inside carbon guiding layer. A sample with optimized structural parameters is deposited using ion beam sputtering (IBS) technique and characterized using X-ray reflectivity (XRR) and grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence (GIXRF) techniques. The analysis suggests that the density of bottom Ru layer and carbon guiding layer is close to bulk density ($97% for Ru and $95% for carbon), whereas density of top Ru layer is slightly lower ($93% of bulk density). A $10% of thickness variation in top cladding layer along with marginal change in layer density deteriorate field enhancement in TE 0 mode by more than three times. Effect of thickness and density variation on waveguide (Ru [7 nm]/C [18 nm]/Ru [20 nm]) performance is discussed.

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In the present work, a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS)-based electrostatic micromotor is designed and fabricated. Finite element analysis is done and various parameters affecting the torque are studied. Maximum torque is achieved at 120° phase angle. The effect of change in voltage, micromotor height and frequency is analysed and discussed. UV-SLIGA, a microfabrication technique, is used for the fabrication of electrostatic micromotor of height 30µm and higher. UV lithography is conducted by both positive AZ P4620 and negative (SU-8 10 and SU-8 2150) photoresists. Copper (Cu) is used as a sacrificial layer to release the rotor (the movable part) of the electrostatic micromotor. Electroformed nickel (Ni) is used for making stator, rotor and axle, whereas chromium (Cr) is used as a seed layer. The micromotor is fabricated with a stator-rotor pole having configuration ratio of 3:2. The gap between the rotor and axle is 20 µm. Wet chemical etching is used to etch the deposited metal layers (Cr, Ni and Cu). Challenges such as the adhesion between the photoresist mould and substrate, cracks, seepage and misalignment are faced during the microfabrication. These challenges are overcome by optimizing the various parameters. The fabrication of electrostatic micromotor is done successfully and the results are discussed in the article.

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