Effect of Operation Time on the Performance and Accuracy of the Condor Reflectometer

Abstract

This paper evaluates the potential effect that operation lifetime could have on the accuracy and reproducibility of the Condor reflectometer. For this purpose, three Condors with different operation lifetimes have been used and compared in this study. In addition to the device’s operation lifetimes, reproducibility and the repeatability of the measurements have also been evaluated. Silvered glass mirrors at different states have been used, e.g., clean, soiled and eroded in order to evaluate the effect of the surface properties on the difference reported using different devices. The obtained results have shown that the difference in specular reflectance reported by the three different Condors is more noticeable in case of soiled and eroded glass mirrors compared to clean sample. This could be linked to the surface roughness more than to the years of operation of the device itself.