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We present a detailed study of the microstructural, electrical and magnetic properties of Fe 35 Co 65 thin films deposited by thermal evaporation using nanocrystalline mixture. The nanocrystalline Fe 35 Co 65 powder was prepared by mechanical alloying process using high energy ball milling and then carefully studied. Good homogeneity, purity and stoichiometry were demonstrated in the powder composed of 25 nm mean crystallite size. Microstuctural analysis of Fe 35 Co 65 thin films ranging from 9 to 50 nm deposited on Si (001) shows that the stoichiometry is conserved over the whole thickness range and that (110) texture forms as the film thickness increases. Our work finally demonstrates that high saturation magnetization, low coercivity and high electrical resistivity FeCo thin films can be achieved by thermal evaporation from properly set mechanical alloying powder.

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Silicon etching in alkaline solutions has been employed for many years, in the fabrication of solar cells. Surface texturisation of crystalline silicon was performed by using different etching solutions. Recently, a strong oxidising reagent NaOCl has been used successfully by several authors to texture the silicon surface. In this work, the effect of the etching parameters such as solution composition on the silicon surface morphology is studied. The surface of etched samples was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spectrophotometry and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The results clearly show that the presence of ethanol in the solution leads to the formation of pyramids, while its absence induces the formation of nanostructures (nanowire or nanoneedle).

The original version of the article unfortunately contained an error. The third affiliation of author H. Lachenani was inadvertently left out. The complete affiliations are given below. Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.