An orientation competition in yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films fabricated by ion beam assisted sputtering deposition

A previously found orientation competition in ion beam sputtered yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films was studied in detail. The effects of sputtering energy and deposition angle were analyzed in ion sputtered films without assisting ions bombardment. It is found that for normally deposited films, (001) and (011) orientations are favored at low and high sputtering energy respectively. For inclined substrate deposited films, as deposition angle increases, (001), (011) and (111) orientations are advantaged in turn. The results can be attributed to the in-plane energy exchange of deposition atom and adatoms. In ion beam assisting deposited YSZ films of low assisting ions energy and current, a (001) oriented biaxial texture is gradually induced as ion energy increased. In the case of ion beam assisted inclined deposition of 45°, (001) orientation is enhanced and two preferential in-plane orientations are found coexist.