Fe+ ion irradiation induced changes in structural and magnetic properties of iron films

490 keV Fe+ ion irradiation of 200 nm thick Fe films was found to induce both structural and magnetic changes. Both, the lattice constant and the grain size increase as a function of dose and both properties follow the same power law. Irradiation induces a depth dependent magnetic profile consisting of two sublayers. The top Fe sublayer has a magnetic moment higher than that of the Fe before the irradiation whereas the bottom sublayer lower. The two sublayers are connected with the effects of Fe+ irradiation, i.e. the top sublayer with the depth in which mainly radiation damage occurs whereas the bottom one with the implantation of impinging Fe+ ions. The magnetic moments of the two sublayers have a non-monotonous variation with irradiation dose depicting a maximum for the top sublayer and a minimum for the bottom one at 96.2 dpa ('displacements per atom'). The magnetic moment enhancement/reduction is discussed in relation with the atomic volume variation in the case of atom displacements and/or implantation effects.