Deposition of rust proof Iron thin films with soft magnetic properties by dual ion beam sputtering

Iron thin films with soft magnetic properties have been deposited by Dual Ion Beam Sputtering. And the dependence of their crystal structure and magnetic properties on preparation conditions, especially on ion bombardment onto film surface during deposition, has been investigated. All films are composed fine crystallites of which size and magnetic ordering depend significantly on the kinetic energy of the bombarding ions. On the condition of bombarding ion energy around 115 eV, saturation magnetization 4πMs takes the maximum of 21 kG, and coercive force Hc takes the minimum about 1 Oe. These results indicate that the bombardment of argon ions with proper energy results in an improvement of atomic ordering and macro-structural uniformity in the films. Electrical resistivity ρ also depends on the ion energy ρ of the films with high 4πMs and low Hc is rather high about 40 μΩcm. Such films have excellent surface smoothness and no detectable structural ununiformity. Besides, they do not rust even by being put in saturated water vapor and dipped in water for more than one month.