X-ray diffraction measurement of partially correlated interfacial roughness in multilayers

The existence of partially correlated roughness in multilayer thin films is demonstrated using x-ray diffraction diffuse-intensity distribution measurements. The method is generally applicable and produces, in addition to values of magnitudes of interfacial roughness and its lateral correlation length, a measure of the cross correlation between interfaces separated by intermediate ones. A simple phenomenological model can describe roughness in W/C multilayers prepared under standard conditions. A cumulative roughness function is used to show that the wavelength range in which the interfacial roughness predominates in these layers lies between 50 Å and 2000 Å and that the long-wavelength roughness replicates better than the short-wavelength roughness.