Distinguishing crystallographic misorientations of lanthanum zirconate epilayers on nickel substrates by electron backscatter diffraction

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was used for distinguishing crystallographic orientations and local lattice misfits of a La2Zr2O7 (LZO) buffer layer epitaxially grown on a cube textured Ni-5.%W (Ni–W) substrate for a YBCO superconductor film. Orientation data were obtained from the LZO epilayer using low energy primary electrons (5 keV) and from the Ni–W substrate by increasing the voltage to 15 keV. In-plane and out-of-plane orientations of the LZO epilayer were revealed with respect to its Ni–W substrate. A strong {1 0 0} 〈0 1 1〉 rotated-cube texture in the LZO epilayer was formed on the {1 0 0} 〈0 0 1〉 cube-textured Ni–W substrates. LZO and Ni in-plane crystallographic axes are related by an expected 45° rotation. The step-misorientations and the local misfit strains between the LZO epilayer and the substrate were also analyzed.

Research highlights
► We distinguish misorientations between LZO epilayers and Ni-W substrates by EBSD.
► Using low voltages, in-plane and out-of-plane orientations of the LZO are revealed.
► {1 0 0} 〈0 1 1〉 texture in LZO epilayer is formed on {1 0 0}〈001〉 textured Ni-W substrate.
► Expected lattice matches 〈0 0 1〉NiW//〈0 0 1〉LZO and 〈0 0 1〉NiW//〈0 0 1〉LZO are exhibited.
► The local orientation transition and misfit strains in-between were analyzed.