QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON OF STRUCTURAL PARAMETERS OF MAGNETIC MULTILAYERS OBTAINED BY DIFFRACTION METHODS AND BY DIRECT IMAGING TECHNIQUES .2. INTRALAYER STRUCTURE

The intralayer structure of a magnetic multilayer [Ni30Co70(5.6 Angstr om)/Au(15 Angstrom)](16) has been analyzed by high-angle X-ray diffrac tion (HXRD), transmission electron diffraction (TED) and by high-resol ution electron microscopy (HREM). The following structure parameters w ere determined: multilayer periodicity length, thickness of sublayers, interface roughness on smaller scales, average lattice spacing, latti ce spacing of components and degree of preferred orientation. It was f ound that the adherent multilayer is under a compressive stress. In ca ses where a comparison was possible, TED measurements confirmed well t he results derived from HXRD. The accuracy of HXRD measurements in com parison with TED has been found higher. We have shown that non-destruc tive HXRD studies of multilayer structures can easily give reliable an d physically realistic results. The method is relatively fast, supplie s quantitative data about internal structure of sublayers, about micro structure of the sample and characterizes the multilayer structure ave raged over the whole volume. We have presented that the combination of low-and high-angle XRD is very powerful approach for its ability to g et structure information measured on different scales. This advantage, together with application of direct imaging techniques, enabled us to give a very detailed description and interpretation of interface morp hology parameters which belong to the most important parameters in met allic magnetic multilayers.