It was shown that it was possible to reduce both interfacial diffusion and interfacial roughness in Ni-Ti multi-layers by depositing an ultra-thin layer of C at Ni/Ti interfaces. A comparison of treated Ni-Ti multi-layers and untreated ones was carried out by means of grazing-angle neutron reflectometry, grazing-angle X-ray reflectometry, Auger electron spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The experimental data revealed that Ni diffused into the Ti layers in untreated multi-layers. This diffusion decreased when the Ni/Ti interfaces were separated by 1nm of C. The results showed that the multi-layer quality was higher if the glass substrate was also treated with 3nm of amorphous C.

M.Mâaza, B.Farnoux, F.Samuel, C.Sella, F.Wehling, F.Bridou, M.Groos, B.Pardo, G.Foulet: Journal of Applied Crystallography, 1993, 26[4], 574-82