Enhancement of magnetostrictive properties of Galfenol thin films

•We investigate the effect of substrate temperature on the morphological, structural and magnetic properties of FeGa sputtered thin films and how the magnetostriction changes with respect to substrate temperature.•As the substrate temperature increased, we observe an evolution of columnar structure and subsequent collapse of this columnar structure at higher substrate temperature.•A strong correlation between magnetization and magnetostriction is seen as both increases with growth temperature, reaches a maximum and then decreases in further increasing the growth temperature.•Crystallinity also favors higher magnetostriction whereas a decrease in crystallinity deteriorates magnetostriction as inferred from XRD.•The thin films prepared possesses high magnetostriction and is soft magnetic with reasonable coercivity to render it a potential candidate for sensor and actuator applications.