Structural studies of NixFe100-x/Mo magnetic multilayers by x-ray small-angle reflection and high-angle diffraction

Magnetic multilayers [NixFe100-x/Mo-30] grown by dc-magnetron sputtering were investigated by x-ray small-angle reflection and high-angle diffraction. Structural parameters of the multilayers such as the superlattice periods, the interfacial roughness, and interplane distance were obtained. It was found that for our NixFe100-x/Mo system, the Mo layer has bcc structure with [110] preferential orientation, while the preferential orientation of the NixFe100-x layer changes from a fee structure with [111] preferential orientation to a bcc structure with [110] preferential orientation with decreasing values of x. An intermixing layer located in the interlayer region between the NixFe100-x and Mo layers exists in the multilayers, and its thickness is almost invariant with respect to an increase of Mo layer thickness and/or a decrease of x in the region of x greater than or equal to 39. The thickness of the intermixing layer falls to zero when x less than or equal to 23.