The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) (120–200 nm) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) (80–120 nm) reflectance characteristics of as‐deposited films of amorphous aluminum nitride (AlN) and diamond‐like carbon (DLC), and of single‐crystal &bgr;‐silicon carbide (SiC) have been measured. AlN and DLC films have been grown by plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and the SiC film by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The VUV reflectivities of AlN and SiC exceed 50% while the reflectance of DLC film is low (∼10%). Furthermore, DLC and SiC films display EUV reflectance characteristics that are very desirable. The reflectivity of as‐deposited SiC is 40% and that of DLC is about 20%.