Structural investigations of YSZ coatings prepared by DC magnetron sputtering

(ZrO2)1−x(Y2O3)x thin films were sputter-deposited from metallic targets in various reactive argon–oxygen gas mixtures. Structural investigations have been realised by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The coatings microstructure have been characterised by TEM and their morphology by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) on brittle-fracture cross sections. Chemical compositions have been achieved by Electron Probe Micro-Analysis (EPMA) and by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). Finally, attention was paid to the film optical properties, as assessed via Optical Transmission Interferometry (OTI) as well as spectrophotometry.In a first part, we have studied the influence of the argon pressure on the chemical, structural and morphological properties of the coatings. In a second part, we have observed the effect of the yttria content on the structure of the films.