Effect of growth parameters on the structure and magnetic properties of thin polycrystalline Fe films fabricated on Si〈1 0 0〉 substrates

► In this study we examined the microstructure and magnetic properties of thin Fe films. ► The film thickness was fixed to 50 nm and the effect of sputter parameters (such as sputter pressure pAr and Fe power PFe) on the film properties was investigated. ► It was found that the film grown at 4 μbar was the softest film among all the films studied in this work. ► Over the range of PFe investigated in this work, the magnetic properties were observed to be unaffected by PFe. ► It was also found that the Fe films grown on Si〈1 0 0〉 substrates had positive magnetostriction constant (4 ± 1 ppm).