Effects of Deposition Parameters on the Crystallinities of CeO₂ and Y₂O₃ Buffer Layers on Textured Ni Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Abstract

The epitaxial growth conditions of CeO2 and Y2O3 single buffer layers on textured Ni tapes were examined using rf magnetron sputtering, and the process conditions for the sequential and mixture buffer layers of these two materials were investigated respectively in order to develop a more simplified buffer architecture. The CeO2 single layer exhibited a well developed (200) epitaxial growth at Ar/10%O2 gas below 450°C, although the epitaxial property was decreased with increasing layer thickness. With regard to the deposition of Y2O3 on Ni, the epitaxial growth was not successful. The epitaxy of Y2O3 on Ni was very sensitive to the O2 gas pressure during sputtering. The repeated sequential architecture of the CeO2 and Y2O3 layers exhibited a good epitaxial property at 400°C/(Ar/10%O2) for the initial CeO2 layer and 700°C/Ar and 700°C/(Ar/10%O2) for the subsequent Y2O3 and CeO2 layers, respectively. The Y-doped CeO2 buffers with (200) epitaxy were successfully obtained by the co-sputtering of Ce and Y metals in a reactive gas condition, and the maximum target Y/Ce ratio for the epitaxy was about 1/10.