The study investigates the ferromagnetism in Fe-doped SnO₂ thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition. The films exhibit transparent ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature of 610 K and a spontaneous magnetization of 2.2 Am²kg⁻¹. Despite the presence of high-spin Fe³⁺ ions, the films show atomic-scale magnetic inhomogeneity, with only 23% of the iron ions magnetically ordered. The net ferromagnetic moment per ordered iron ion is 1.8 μB, higher than in simple iron oxides. A novel ferromagnetic exchange mechanism involving an electron trapped in an oxygen vacancy (F-center) is proposed to explain the high Curie temperature. This mechanism, called F-Center Exchange (FCE), involves direct ferromagnetic coupling between Fe³⁺ ions through the F-center, reducing the average ferromagnetic moment per iron ion from 5.0 to 4.5 μB. The findings suggest that further research should focus on enhancing the mobility of spin-polarized F-center electrons and developing applications in high-k dielectrics.The study investigates the ferromagnetism in Fe-doped SnO₂ thin films grown by pulsed-laser deposition. The films exhibit transparent ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature of 610 K and a spontaneous magnetization of 2.2 Am²kg⁻¹. Despite the presence of high-spin Fe³⁺ ions, the films show atomic-scale magnetic inhomogeneity, with only 23% of the iron ions magnetically ordered. The net ferromagnetic moment per ordered iron ion is 1.8 μB, higher than in simple iron oxides. A novel ferromagnetic exchange mechanism involving an electron trapped in an oxygen vacancy (F-center) is proposed to explain the high Curie temperature. This mechanism, called F-Center Exchange (FCE), involves direct ferromagnetic coupling between Fe³⁺ ions through the F-center, reducing the average ferromagnetic moment per iron ion from 5.0 to 4.5 μB. The findings suggest that further research should focus on enhancing the mobility of spin-polarized F-center electrons and developing applications in high-k dielectrics.