Characterization of the Structure and Interfaces in Metallic Superlattices

Abstract

ABSTRACTUsing magnetically enhanced dc-triode sputtering we have grown metallic multilayers of Ag/Pd and Cu/Pd with modulation wavelengths A ranging from 10 Å to 120 Å. The Ag/Pd films were prepared with two different thickness ratios of silver to palladium (1:1 and 3:1) while the Cu/Pd films all were 1:1. We observed in the Ag/Pd films that the variation with A of the (111) lattice spacing dav in the growth direction is less than 0.5%, independent of the composition. However, these films exhibited enhancements in the Rayleigh sound velocity vR of up to 22% for the 1:1 samples and 13% for the 3:1 Ag/Pd samples respectively as A decreased. The Cu/Pd films showed a slight systematic dependence of dav on A, although its variation was only approximately 0.7%. A softening in vR of up to 7% for the Cu/Pd samples was observed.