We report the fabrication of carbon-doped (0-9 at.%) Fe-Co thin films deposited using facing targets sputtering method. Adding carbon of 2.5 at.% has an effect on decreasing coercivity in the case that the internal stress is approximately zero. Further addition of carbon does not influence the soft magnetic properties, whereas the saturation flux density decreases down to 2 T. The lowest coercivity of 12 Oe in hard axis is obtained with the saturation flux density of 2.4 T and clear uniaxial anisotropy (anisotropy field: 200 Oe) in the (Fe65Co35)(97.5)C-2.5 film. The Fe-Co-C film exhibits better frequency characteristics than Fe-C films due to higher anisotropy field and saturation flux density. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.