Accurate control of evaporated multilayer thicknesses by a standard quartz monitoring system

Multilayers were obtained by evaporation from two electron gun crucibles. The thicknesses and the evaporation rates were controlled by standard quartz monitoring systems (QMS). A method to resolve the problems of the instability and of the lack of resolution of the instrument by smoothing the information provided by the QMS is presented. With this method, the quality of the multilayers’ periodicity is improved. Si/Ge nanoscale multilayers with an accuracy of ±0.5 Å on the individual thicknesses were obtained.