Improvement of some physical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Fe15-Ni85/ITO thin films by galvanostatic pretreatment process

Abstract

In this research, a comparative study on some physical and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline Fe15-Ni85 thin films with and without galvanostatic pretreatment (GPT) process deposited on conductive and transparent in-dium tin oxide substrates using the electrodeposition method is carried out. The films exhibit the non-preferential deposition of more noble Ni. The films, irrespective of the GPT process, show a single face-centered cubic structure with the preferential orientation of crystallites along the (111) plane. The Ni-Fe thin film with the GPT exhibits a smaller crystallite size and a stronger [111] texture than the Ni-Fe thin film without the GPT. The films exhibit in-plane magnetic hysteresis loops with a magnetic squareness ratio of about 0.10 +/- 0.01 independent of the GPT. The main advantages of the Ni-Fe thin film with the GPT are the smooth surface with smaller particles and the in-plane magnetization, which shows a significant reduction of the coercive field. The results obtained in this study are expected to be useful for future experimental studies of Ni-Fe thin film materials.