Nitrogen introduced iron film with low coercive force prepared by ion plating

To produce an iron film with excellent magnetic properties, an RF ion-plating technique was used. Ion-plated iron films produced without introducing gas, have a high saturation magnetization(Bs=2.2 T). The effects of introducing gases during iron deposition were also studied. Using a N2-Ar-He mixture gas, an iron film with low coercive force(Hc=1 Oe) was obtained. Although, an iron nitride structure was not observed in this film, 3 at% of nitrogen has been detected in the sample. It is evident that a small amount of nitrogen reduces the coercive force of iron films.