Ni-Mn-Ga materials are attracting increasing interest due to their large magnetic-field-induced stresses and the potential applications in sensors and actuators.

A combination of GIXRD (Figure 1) and XRR (Figure 2) analysis was performed on the Rigaku's Ultima IV multipurpose diffraction system on one such material. Such a combined investigation not only reveals the composition and texture for this Ni-Mn-Ga film but also provides useful information about layer thickness, density and roughness. This information is then used to tune these materials.