Chemically diffuse interface in (1 1 1) Au–Ni multilayers: an anomalous X-ray diffraction analysis

This work elucidates the exact chemical nature of the interfaces in (1 1 1) Au–Ni multilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We performed an X-ray investigation combining fitting of symmetric X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra, and anomalous X-ray scattering analysis. We unambiguously show that the interfaces Au/Ni are abrupt, whereas the Ni/Au ones extend on five planes.