The surface topography of multilayered W/Cu structures is studied after 100-340 keV Ne + and Ar + irradiation in the range of fluences up to 10 1 7 cm - 2 employing the stylus method. The characteristic features on the surface are correlated with the experimental results obtained when measuring stress relaxation during ion irradiation by employing the bending technique and free-lattice parameter using the sin 2 ψ method. Surface roughness, as a function of sputtering and target parameters, is analyzed theoretically and experimentally. Qualitative agreement is obtained.The correlation between the surface characteristic features initiated by ion irradiation and stress relaxation processes in multilayers is demonstrated.