Corrosion-resistant iron thin films formed by pulsed laser deposition with cast iron targets

Iron thin films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition using cast iron as a target. The films deposited by using a 1.064 mm Nd:YAG laser on silicon wafer corroded easily in a 0.001 molrl NaCl aqueous solution, as seen by a change of the surface color. In a similar test, no visible change of the color was observed for the film deposited by using the 532 nm second harmonics from the Nd:YAG laser. However, the inspection under an optical microscope revealed localized corrosion around the particles mixed into the iron film. q1998 Elsevier Science B.V.