Combination of specular and off-specular low-angle X-ray diffraction in the study of metallic multilayers

The use of resonant low-angle X-ray diffraction, combining specular and off-specular scans, has been used to characterize accurately and self-consistently the mesoscopic structure and the quality of interfaces for a set of magnetron sputtered Co/Cu multilayers. In addition, the use of a simulation program to fit experimental patterns, which is based on the Distorted Wave Born Approximation has permitted to confirm its validity in the region of total external reflection in a system having a high degree of complexity.