Thin gold layer in Ni electroforming process: optical surface characterization

Abstract

Mandrel replication by Nickel electroforming is a well-suited process to manufacture X-ray mirrors, making use of Gold layer playing the twofold role of release agent and reflective coating. To increase the optical performances of mirrors it is crucial to minimize the impact of X-ray scattering effects related to surface microroughness, especially when the mirror is intended to operate in hard X-rays. In this case, the Gold layer simply acts as release agent because the reflection is demanded to interferential over-coatings. Even though the replicated optical surface is usually believed to reproduce the smooth topography of the master, a surface degradation is commonly observed. Such a worsening can also suffer from a contribution from the spontaneous roughness growth of the Gold layer itself: if this is the case, the mirror's optical quality could potentially benefit from the utilization of a thin Gold layer (< 100 nm) instead of the traditional thick gold layer (> 100 nm). To prove the effectiveness of the Gold thickness reduction, a microroughness characterization of replicated thin gold layers has been achieved. We report here a preliminary roughness study of 3 electroformed Ni samples replicated from a super-polished Zerodur flat master with various Gold layer thicknesses, in the spectral range 0.02-1000 μm. The study is organized as follows: (a) characterization of the 3 replicated samples; (b) comparison of the Gold roughness for thin vs. thick layers; (c) comparison of the two sides of Gold layers.