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We have studied oxidation kinetics of Fe thin film under atmospheric conditions using the fact that metallic iron is a ferromagnet but ultrathin natural iron oxides are approximately nonmagnetic at room temperature. As a consequence, oxidation is associated with a loss in total Fe magnetic moment. Results show that the sample with an initial Fe thickness equal to 10 nm oxidize relatively fast (time constant τ = 0.05 day), whereby a constant amount of 2.5 nm of metal is transformed into oxides. For lower iron initial thickness (di = 4 nm) the time constant for oxidation significantly increases reaching a value of 2 days. Furthermore, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies performed after 144 days of oxidation revealed formation of hematite (α-Fe2O3) thin film on the metallic rest of iron.

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