This work presents results on modifications of the structure and the magnetic properties of magnetron-sputtered Fe50Co50 films induced by high dose Sin or Xe ion implantation. A combinatorial approach was used in order to screen a wide range of implantation doses from 4 x 10(15) to 1.6 x 10(17) ions/cm(2). Sm-implanted FeCo films are considered as precursors for the synthesis of multi-phase exchange-spring magnetic materials while Xe ion implantation of such films is known as a method to modify film stresses and magnetical properties. Materials libraries of as-implanted films were investigated by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for the film composition and concentration depth profiles, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the film morphology and crystalline structure, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) for the magnetization behaviour and four-point probe measurements for the film resistivity. Three main results were found on the basis of this combinatorial study: (i) The high-dose Sm-implanted samples have an overall Sin concentration above the value necessary for Sm-Fe(Co) alloy formation and show magnetic hysteresis curves corresponding to two-phase or two-layer film stucture; (ii) The two implanted series show quite different magnetic anisotropy in the film plane a negligable one for Xe and a strong one for Sm implantation; (iii) For the Sm-implanted samples a clear local maxima in the coercivity H-c and the anisotropy field H-k can be seen at D-sm >= 1 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). The XRD spectra of the libraries show that the last two effects are closely related to the film strains introduced by the implantation process. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.