Ion-beam-induced epitaxial crystallization of sol-gel zirconia thin films on yttria-stabilized zirconia
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We have studied ion-beam-induced epitaxial crystallization and densification of sol-gel zirconia thin films on single-crystal yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrates. The spin-coated sol-gel zirconia thin films (100 nm) on YSZ substrates were irradiated at 300 C with various ion beams (360 keV argon, 360 keV neon or 180keV oxygen). Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy showed the presence of an epitaxial cubic zirconia layer (about 25 nm thick) near the interface between the thin film and the substrate followed by a polycrystalline cubic zirconia dominated layer (40 nm) towards the surface. In contrast to ion-beam annealing, thermal annealing alone at 900 C produced a two-phase structure with both monoclinic (more than 50 vol.%) and cubic zirconia variants epitaxially related to the YSZ substrate. The study has indicated that ion irradiation at relatively low temperatures kinetically favours the epitaxial growth of the high-temperature cubic phase in the sol-gel zirconia film near the YSZ substrate.
