Thin Solid Films 450 (2004) 183–186 0040-6090/04/$ - see front matter  2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2003.10.068 A XRD study of Co y Au multilayers using a laboratory microdiffractometer E. Bontempi*, L.E. Depero INSTM and Laboratorio di Strutturistica Chimica, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Universita di Brescia, Via Branze, 38, ` 25123 Brescia, Italy Abstract In this paper we show that by the analysis of 2D images collected with a laboratory X-ray microdiffractometer it is possible to non-destructively evaluate the structure, the microstructure, and the preferred orientation of films. In particular, the structural analysis of CoyAu multilayers on Si(100) deposited at different Ar pressures are reported and discussed.  2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Multilayer; XRD; XRD 2 1. Introduction In recent years, magnetic multilayered structures grown by alternating Co and a noble metal have attracted a great interest because of their peculiar magnetic properties. For instance, several magnetic superlattices such as CoyAu w1x, CoyPt w2x and Co yPd w3x, exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy while others, such as CoyAg w4x, show antiferromagnetic coupling between magnetic layers and giant magnetoresistance effect. Since the microstructure plays a key role in the magnetic properties w2,5x, it is essential to structurally characterize these layers and their interfaces. The crys- tallographic texture has commonly been measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods using four circles goniometers. Such measurements are slow and limited to small samples w6x. The advances in X-ray detector technology and X-ray optics allow to collect several pole figures simultaneously, thus reducing the measure- ment time with a spatial resolution of the order of 100 mm w7x. The aim of this paper is to show that, when quanti- tative evaluation of the texture is not necessary, the area detectors allow a very fast qualitative comparison and screening of the samples. In particular, the influence of Ar pressure on the texture of CoyAu multilayers by *Corresponding author. Tel.: q39-3037-15802; fax: q39-3037- 02248. E-mail address: elza.bontempi@ing.unibs.it (E. Bontempi). means of X-ray microdiffraction experiments is discussed. 2. Experimental 2.1. Synthesis The samples were deposited at room temperature by RF sputtering on oxidised Si(100) substrates covered with a 30 A thick Cu buffer layer. The power of the Co ˚ and Au targets was kept constant approximately 50 W in order to obtain low deposition rates. Three different series of multilayer, with the same structure, were deposited at four different Ar pressures: 0.008, 0.014, 0.029 and 0.090 mbar. Table 1 summarises the number of repetition of bi-layer in multilayer samples, the nominal bi-layer thickness and growth pressure. 2.2. Characterization XRD spectra were collected by a Bruker ‘D8 Advance’ diffractometer equipped with a Gobel mirror. ¨ The angular accuracy was 0.0018. The Cu Ka line of a conventional X-ray source powered at 40 kV and 40 mA was used. X-ray microdiffraction (XRD ) images were collected 2 by a Dymax-RAPID X-ray microdiffractometer, with a cylindrical imaging plate detector, that with Cu Ka radiation allows to collect the diffraction data from 0 to 1608 (2u) horizontally and from y45 to 458 (2u) vertically. The incident beam collimators enable different