Deposition Rate and Surface Smoothness of Fe3O4 Films Prepared by Light-Enhanced Ferrite Plating

Polycrystalline Fe3O4 films were deposited by ferrite plating, irradiating the substrate surface with a Xe-lamp (350 W) and using FeCl2 and NaNO2 as the reaction and oxidizing solutions, respectively. When the concentration of FeCl2 was high, the film surface was rough, with particle of 0.2~0.4 ¿m in size. As the concentration of FeCl2 decreased the film surface smoothness improved, but the film deposition rate decreased. Addition of dextran ((C6H10O5)n, n= 1200~1800) to the reaction solution improved the film surface smoothness without significantly lowering the deposition rate.