Physical and electrical properties of yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Abstract

This paper presents the electrophysical characteristics of a 7 mol.% yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin film deposited by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. In order to form the crystalline structure, the deposited films were annealed in air over a temperature range of 700 ÷ 900 °C. By XRD analysis it was established that as the deposited films were amorphous, they crystallized into a pure cubic structure as a result of annealing in air at a temperature above 820 °C. The electrophysical properties of YSZ films were investigated on structures such as Ni/YSZ/Pt/Ti/Si and Ni/YSZ/Si. Film features ε > 20 and tg δ < 0.05 were obtained. An estimate of the capacity-voltage characteristic proved that the Ni/YSZ/Si structures possessed a hysteresis. This hysteresis resulted from the drift of the mobile ions in the YSZ film. High-temperature ionic conductivity of the stabilized zirconia was determined by the measurements of the electric resistivity of the YSZ films at 1 kHz over the temperature range from ambient to 800 °C. The YSZ film conductivity obtained was 1.96 × 10-2 S/cm under 800 °C.