Regular Article

Effect of deposition conditions on the magnetic properties of evaporated Fe thin films

¹ Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences Exactes, Université A. Mira, Bejaia 06000, Algeria
² Centre de Recherche en Technologie des Semi-conducteurs pour l’Energétique (CRTSE), 02 Bd. Frantz Fanon, B.P 140 Alger – 7 Merveilles, Algiers, Algeria
³ L.E.S.I.M.S, Département de Physique, Université Ferhat Abbas, 19000 Sétif 1, Algeria
⁴ Advanced Materials Department, Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, CMRDI, Helwan 11421, Cairo, Egypt

^a e-mail: mouradph@gmail.com

Received: 27 October 2016
Revised: 21 February 2017
Accepted: 22 March 2017
Published online: 28 April 2017

Abstract

Fe thin films have been deposited by thermal evaporation onto glass substrate. The thickness ranges from 76 to 431 nm range, while deposition rates are between 0.3 and 13.4 Å/s. The magnetic properties of these Fe thin films are investigated. The magnetic properties were inferred from B-H hysteresis curves. The magnetic field was applied both in-plane and perpendicular to the film. The coercive field H_C and the saturation field H_S were derived for both configurations. The effects of the preparation conditions – thickness, deposition time and deposition rate – on the H_C and H_S behaviors are investigated. Interesting features are observed as a function of the elaboration conditions. Also, the variation of H_C with grain size reveals the different mechanisms responsible for the coercive field values.