The structure of laser‐deposited and sputtered Fe/Nb and Fe/Ag multilayers was investigated by x‐ray diffraction. Significant differences in the textures, sharpness of the interfaces, and critical bilayer thicknesses for alloys are obtained for these two deposition processes. For small bilayer thicknesses, the measured x‐ray‐diffraction patterns were analyzed by computer simulations using a one‐dimensional model, which includes the occurrence of amorphous or disordered interlayers between the crystalline layers and takes layer thickness fluctuations into account. These simulations indicate that already in as‐prepared Fe/Nb multilayers thin amorphous interlayers exist and describe the thickness increase during an interdiffusion reaction already in the early stages of the transformation. In the case of Fe/Ag multilayers, the interfaces are disordered after deposition and first sharpen during annealing at about 250 °C, before grain coarsening occurs. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.