Gadolinium doped ceria thin films deposited by e-beam technique

E-beam deposition technique was used for formation of gadolinium doped ceria oxide (GDC) thin films. GDC thin films were grown by evaporating (Ce0.9Gd0.1)O1.95 ceramic nanopowder. Operating technical parameters that influence thin film microstructure and crystallite size were studied. The GDC thin films were deposited on porous NiO–YSZ (nickel oxide–yttrium stabilized zirconium), optical quartz and Alloy 600 (Fe–Ni–Cr). The influence of substrate temperature on thin film (2–3 μm of thickness) structure and surface morphology was investigated by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that substrate temperature (changed in the range of 20–500 °C) had the influence on the crystallite size and texture. Crystallite size grows up to 53–56 nm with increasing substrate temperature during the deposition. The GDC thin film growing texture is changing at higher than 300 °C substrate temperature when is chosen Alloy 600 substrate.