PNNL

Abstract

We report an evidence of a critical thickness at ~ 64 nm in epitaxial CeO2 films grown at 750 0C on YSZ substrates by dc magnetron sputtering where optimum ion channeling can be correlated with overall strain relaxation and film surface roughness. The occurrence of saturation in ion channeling yield, enhancement in the average surface roughness and relaxation in c-axis strain is clearly evident in thicker films beyond the critical thickness. Despite excellent surface smoothness and overall epitaxial growth, CeO2 films grown at 650 0C did not show optimum ion channeling properties due to high misfit dislocation and defect density. These results are discussed from a viewpoint of the need for such an optimum thickness to develop multilayers with smooth interfaces with relative overall lattice relaxation.