Growth of Biaxially Textured Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Thin Films on Si(111) Substrate by Ion Beam Assisted Deposition

The (001) oriented yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) films with in-plane biaxial texture have been deposited on Si(111) substrates by ion beam assisted deposition at ambient temperature. The effects of ion/atom arrival rate ratio (R=(Ar⁺O⁺₂)/ZrO₂) and incident angle of bombarding ion beam on the film texture development were investigated. It was found that the in-plane biaxial texture of the films was improved gradually with increasing ion/atom arrival rate ratio R up to a critical value 1.9, but it was degraded with the further increase of R. The optimal in-plane biaxial texture, whose full width at half maximum of the (111) ø-scan spectrum is 14°, can be obtained at R=1.9 and incident angle of 55°. For a fixed R, the optimal crystallinity and in-plane biaxial alignment of the YSZ films did not appear at the s,ame incident angle and showed an opposite variation with the change of the incident angle from 51°to 55°C-axis alignment (perpendicular to substrate surface) does not show any substantial variation with the change of incident angle within the range of 47°– 56°.