The Influence of Thermal Annealing on Texture of Yttrium Stabilized Zirconia Thin Films

Abstract

Yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films were grown evaporating tetragonal phase zirconia stabilized by 8 wt. % of
yttrium (8YSZ) ceramic powder. YSZ thin films were deposited on optical quartz substrates using e-beam deposition
technique controlling deposition parameters: substrate temperature and electron gun power influencing thin film
properties. YSZ thin films (1.5 μm – 2 μm of thickness) were deposited at different substrate temperatures (250 ºC,
400 ºC, 600 ºC) and the electron gun power was 0.66 kW, 0.9 kW, 1.05 kW, and 1.2 kW during thin films deposition. To
understand the stability and influence of temperature on the structure of formed thin films the deposited YSZ layers were
annealed at 1100 ºC temperature, in air and were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD). It was found that annealing
temperature, electron gun power, and substrate temperature influence the crystallite size of YSZ: crystallite size before
annealing was 12.2 nm – 46.2 nm and after annealing was 23 nm – 49.8 nm. It was found that the main orientation of the
YSZ thin films texture repeats the characteristics of the evaporated YSZ powder and dominant crystal structure of
tetragonal phase of YSZ thin films is (101). The same (101) tetragonal phase remains after annealing at 1100 ºC
temperature. The crystallite size and coefficient of texture increases but repeats the character of the curves as it was before
the annealing. The temperature and substrate material does not influence the texture of YSZ thin films.