Influence of temperature on the magnetic moments of Fe clusters in an Ag matrix

Thin Fe-Ag granular films have been produced by a plasma-gas-aggregation process. Magnetization curves of the Fe clusters in these films have been observed at several temperatures. They can be interpreted by description of the Langevin function with significant temperature dependence of the magnetic moment per atom, μat(T). The obtained cluster-size distribution indicates that small clusters of less than 50 atoms per cluster are predominant, being consistent with the structural investigation. The temperature dependence of μat(T) is similar to that of isolated Fe clusters in a molecular beam [1–3].