  Synchrotron-based x-ray reflectivity is increasingly employed as an
\textit{in situ} probe of surface morphology during thin film growth, but
complete interpretation of the results requires modeling the growth process.
Many models have been developed and employed for this purpose, yet no detailed,
comparative studies of their scope and accuracy exists in the literature. Using
experimental data obtained from hyperthermal deposition of pentane and
diindenoperylene (DIP) on SiO$_2$, we compare and contrast three such models,
both with each other and with detailed characterization of the surface
morphology using ex-situ atomic force microscopy (AFM). These two systems each
exhibit particular phenomena of broader interest: pentacene/SiO$_2$ exhibits a
rapid transition from rough to smooth growth. DIP/SiO$_2$, under the conditions
employed here, exhibits growth rate acceleration due to a different sticking
probability between the substrate and film. In general, \textit{independent of
which model is used}, we find good agreement between the surface morphology
obtained from fits to the \insitu x-ray data with the actual morphology at
early times. This agreement deteriorates at later time, once the root-mean
squared (rms) film roughness exceeds about 1 ML. A second observation is that,
because layer coverages are under-determined by the evolution of a single point
on the reflectivity curve, we find that the best fits to reflectivity data ---
corresponding to the lowest values of $\chi_\nu^2$ --- do not necessarily yield
the best agreement between simulated and measured surface morphologies.
Instead, it appears critical that the model reproduce all local extrema in the
data. In addition to showing that layer morphologies can be extracted from a
minimal set of data, the methodology established here provides a basis for
improving models of multilayer growth by comparison to real systems.
