Structural and Magnetic Properties of Fe Films Electrodeposited on Al Substrates

Series of Fe films have been prepared by electrodeposition in a solution of iron chloride onto Al substrate. Different deposition times were used in the elaboration process. The texture, the strain, and the grain size values were derived from X-ray diffraction experiments. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to get the surface and the cross section images. Vibrating Sample magnetometer has been used to obtain the hysteresis curves; the external magnetic field was applied in different directions in the film plane, and also perpendicular to the film. Hysteresis curves have been obtained at low temperatures [120 K (−153 °C) to room temperature]. The 〈100〉 texture, small strain, and grain size ranging from 58 to 113 nm are found for these Fe/Al films. All samples show an in-plane magnetic anisotropy, with no preferred orientation within the film plane. Depending on the film thickness range, different mechanisms have been found to be responsible for the coercive field H _C behavior. These magnetic properties are correlated with the structural ones and with the SEM observations.