Electrochemically deposited Fe-P magnetic thin film from acidic tartarate complex bath solution was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. As-prepared film contains both Fe3+- and Pdelta+-like species, whereas the same film after 10 and 20 min sputtering shows peaks corresponding to Fe metal as well as Pdelta+ species along with Pdelta- species, The film after heat-treatment contains Fe3+ together with Pdelta+ and Pdelta- species. whereas heat-treated film after sputtering shows the presence of both Fe metal and Fe2+ species. There is an increase in Pdelta+ intensity on sputtering the heat-treated film. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.