X-RAY-DIFFRACTION CHARACTERIZATION OF STRESS AND CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC TEXTURE IN THIN-FILM MEDIA

X-ray diffraction has been used to measure the stress and the in-plane crystallographic texture of Co alloy films on grooved substrates. The preference for the c-axis to lie parallel to the groove direction has been quantified. A small in-plane stress was measured which displayed an anisotropy between the two directions. The magnitude of this stress appears to be large enough (according to a simple calculation) to contribute to observed coercive anisotropies. The techniques used for extracting the in-plane crystallographic texture and the value of the in-plane stress from the x-ray measurements are discussed.