QUANTITATIVE IN-SITU X-RAY-DIFFRACTION ANALYSIS OF MAGNETIC MULTILAYERS DURING ANNEALING

In situ high-angle x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements during an anne aling process and extensive low- and high-angle XRD analysis before an d after annealing have been performed to study the influence of anneal ing on the microstructure of a Ni81Fe19/Ag multilayer film. We concent rate on a detailed description and quantification of induced changes i n microstructural properties and on changes in the crystalline structu re of sublayers. The observed effects obtained from the high-angle XRD , where superlattice structural refinement and standard powder diffrac tion methods were used, are utilized to model the changes from microsc opic point of view. The low-angle XRD reflectivity measurements were a nalyzed using a new distorted-wave Born approximation approach which e nables to get information about interlayer structure parameters such a s interface roughnesses, degree of vertical correlation and lateral co rrelation length. The presented low-angle and high-angle analysis demo nstrates general applicability of x-ray diffraction for complex and qu antitative in-situ investigation of structural changes in metallic mul tilayers during annealing. An effect of lateral scaling for different types of roughness is discussed and a general approach is shown for th e case of metallic multilayers. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics .