Morphology and growth of e-beam deposited YSZ thin films

Yttria-stabilized zirconium (YSZ) thin films were grown from the tetragonal phase of ZrO2 stabilized by 8 wt% of Y2O3 (8% of YSZ) ceramic powders using e-beam deposition technique (EB-PVD). The influence of the type of substrate on the microstructure of deposited YSZ thin films was analysed. YSZ thin films (2–3 μm of thickness) were deposited on three different types of substrates: optical quartz (SiO2), porous Ni–YSZ substrates and Alloy 600 (Fe–Ni–Cr). The dependence of the substrate temperature (from 20 to 600 °C) on the thin film structure and the surface morphology were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that (i) the substrate temperature has an influence on the crystallite size, which varied between 12 and 50 nm, (ii) the substrate type has an influence on the growth mechanism of YSZ thin films, and (iii) a bias voltage applied to the substrate during the deposition of thin films has an influence on the densification of YSZ layers.