Diffuse x-ray scattering from interfaces of Co/Pt multilayers

Abstract

We show that the x-ray scattering experiment which includes the diffuse intensity of a multilayered film can be used to probe detailed interfacial information of the multilayers. By assuming that the interfaces are rough, and are correlated in the entire multilayers, we show that, in the 〈001〉 oriented Co/Pt multilayers, the roughness of the interfaces, characterized by the height-height correlation function g(r) = 〈[h(r) − h(0)]²〉, was found to be scaled with the lateral spacing r to a power of $\text{4}\text{3}$, or $\text{r}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>4</mtext><mtext>3</mtext>}}$. The result will be discussed with respect to the nature of the interfaces and the film growth process.