Heteroepitaxial CoxNi1-xSi2 layers with good crystalline quality have been formed by ion beam synthesis. Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) - Channeling, Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) have been used to study the buried layers. For a sample with x=0.66, we found that this ternary suicide layer contains 11% type B and 89 % type A orientation. The TEM investigation reveals that the type B component is mainly located at the interfaces with a thickness of a few monolayers. XRD studies show that the strain of the type B component is smaller than that of the type A component, and this is probably the reason for such a unique distribution of the type B component in the epilayer.

Heteroepitaxial CoxNi1−xSi2 layers with good crystalline quality have been formed by ion beam synthesis. Rutherford Backscattering (RBS) - Channeling, Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) have been used to study the buried layers. For a sample with x=0.66, we found that this ternary silicide layer contains 11% type B and 89% type A orientation. The TEM investigation reveals that the type B component is mainly located at the interfaces with a thickness of a few monolayers. XRD studies show that the strain of the type B component is smaller than that of the type A component, and this is probably the reason for such a unique distribution of the type B component in the epilayer.

We have performed extensive structural and electronic transport measurements of Pb/Cu multilayered structures. The high-angle x-ray diffraction spectrum indicates the presence of continuous interfacial disorder. In the low-angle x-ray spectrum, pronounced minima occur at positions given by q = 2π/Λ, where Λ is the bilayer thickness. This is in sharp contrast to the results for Pb/Ge (crystalline/amorphous) multilayers, where minima are observed at positions q = 2π / tPb with tPb the Pb thickness. These low-angle x-ray spectra can be explained by taking into account lateral coherence and continuously distributed thickness fluctuations. The effect of this interfacial disorder on the electronic properties is investigated by measuring the low-temperature resistivity and the superconducting transition temperature of the multilayers. The calculated values for the elastic mean free path in the individual layers confirm the presence of strong interfacial scattering. The thickness dependence of the critical temperature is explained by taking into account an interfacial barrier with penetration probability σ ≃ 0.5.