Characterization of multicomponent polymer trilayers with resonant soft X-ray reflectivity

Resonant soft X-ray reflectivity (RSoXR) has been used to quantify the layer thicknesses and the interfacial widths of a single, complex thin film with three polymeric layers supported on an inorganic substrate. By adjusting the photon energy, the sensitivity to particular interfaces within the trilayer can be selectively enhanced. The results significantly improve and broaden the capabilities of RSoXR, which has previously only been demonstrated and used for bilayers on silicon sub- strates. The capability of RSoXR to characterize polymer trilayers was not readily predictable from prior bilayer results, as the RSoXR characterization of bilayers ben- efits from a strong X-ray reflection from the substrate that serves as a reference beam with which the reflections from the other interfaces interfere with. The impact of having the capability to investigate trilayers is exemplified by discussing the util- ity of RSoXR to characterize organic electronic light emitting multilayers. V C 2009

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