Mechanically bonded Al/Ni multilayers have numerous applications such as high temperature bonding and local heat sources if their stable self-propagation high temperature synthesis is controllable. In this study, stationary self-propagating reactions in Al/Ni multilayers are obtained through controlling the total layer thickness using micrometer-scale bilayer thicknesses. While stationary self-propagation is not obtained in multilayers with total layer thicknesses of 180-360 mu m, it is consistently observed in multilayers with total layer thicknesses of 630-810 mu m. The total layer thickness influenced the consistency of the propagation velocity of the combustion reactions in the compression-bonded Ni-sputtered Al foil multilayers. The minimum total layer thickness for a stationary propagation is identified as between 540 and 630 mu m in the Al/Ni multilayers.