TY - JOUR
T1 - Surface morphology evolution of CeO 2 /YSZ (001) buffer layers fabricated via magnetron sputtering
AU - Zhang, Yanyi
AU - Feng, Feng
AU - Shi, Kai
AU - Lu, Huiping
AU - Xiao, Shaozhu
AU - Wu, Wei
AU - Huang, Rongxia
AU - Qu, Timing
AU - Wang, Xiaohao
AU - Wang, Zhi
AU - Han, Zhenghe
PY - 2013/11/1
Y1 - 2013/11/1
N2 - Cerium dioxide (CeO 2 )/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has long been proven to be an effective buffer layer architecture for high-temperature superconducting coated conductors. In this study, CeO 2 films were deposited on YSZ (001) single crystal substrates via reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering with varying substrate temperature, sputtering pressure, radio frequency sputtering power, and film thickness. High-quality texture was achieved even at ambient temperature, and deposition parameters were optimized to achieve the best degree of in-plane alignment with (111) φ scan full width at half maximum around 1.3. Atomic force microscopy was utilized to investigate film surface morphology and roughness. At a low sputtering pressure, a flat and uniform film surface comprising nano-sized isotropic islands was observed. The surface islands transited to an anisotropic spindle-like shape at pressure higher than 1.0 Pa. The spindle-shaped islands elongated along the CeO 2 [110] or [11̄ 0] directions, constructing an interwoven surface morphology. The distinct surface morphology evolution was correlated with the change in the film strain state attributed to varying sputtering pressure. A possible mechanism for this morphology evolution was discussed.
AB - Cerium dioxide (CeO 2 )/yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) has long been proven to be an effective buffer layer architecture for high-temperature superconducting coated conductors. In this study, CeO 2 films were deposited on YSZ (001) single crystal substrates via reactive unbalanced magnetron sputtering with varying substrate temperature, sputtering pressure, radio frequency sputtering power, and film thickness. High-quality texture was achieved even at ambient temperature, and deposition parameters were optimized to achieve the best degree of in-plane alignment with (111) φ scan full width at half maximum around 1.3. Atomic force microscopy was utilized to investigate film surface morphology and roughness. At a low sputtering pressure, a flat and uniform film surface comprising nano-sized isotropic islands was observed. The surface islands transited to an anisotropic spindle-like shape at pressure higher than 1.0 Pa. The spindle-shaped islands elongated along the CeO 2 [110] or [11̄ 0] directions, constructing an interwoven surface morphology. The distinct surface morphology evolution was correlated with the change in the film strain state attributed to varying sputtering pressure. A possible mechanism for this morphology evolution was discussed.
KW - Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
KW - Elongated islands
KW - Magnetron sputtering
KW - Surface morphology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84883896287&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.07.072
DO - 10.1016/j.apsusc.2013.07.072
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84883896287
SN - 0169-4332
VL - 284
SP - 150
EP - 154
JO - Applied Surface Science
JF - Applied Surface Science
ER -