  We report on the preparation of thin films and multilayers of the
intermetallic Heusler compound CuMnAl, Co2MnSn, Co2MnSi and Co2MnGe by
rf-sputtering on MgO and Al2O3 substrates. Cu2MnAl can be grown epitaxially
with (100)-orientation on MgO (100) and in (110)-orientation on Al2O3 a-plane.
The Co based Heusler alloys need metallic seedlayers to induce high quality
textured growth. We also have prepared multilayers with smooth interfaces by
combining the Heusler compounds with Au and V. An analysis of the ferromagnetic
saturation magnetization of the films indicates that the Cu2MnAl-compound tends
to grow in the disordered B2-type structure whereas the Co-based Heusler alloy
thin films grow in the ordered L21 structure. All multilayers with thin layers
of the Heusler compounds exhibit a definitely reduced ferromagnetic
magnetization indicating substantial disorder and intermixing at the
interfaces.
