Characteristics of Ce-Zr mixed oxide films as buffer layer by controlling composition

YSZ films have been widely used as buffer layers for high T_c superconductor. However, it is necessary to investigate and develop another buffer layer with suitable, simple, and neat processing. Films of Ce-Zr mixed oxide were deposited by rf and dc magnetron co-sputtering. In sputtering process, dc power of Zr was fixed in 200 W while rf power of Ce was varied with 30 W, 50 W, 100 W, respectively. As-deposited (Ce_xZr_1-x)O₂ films were crystallized without post annealing. It was confirmed that the composition of the films could be controlled with controlling rf power of Ce target. The Φ scan of XRD showed that all (Ce_xZr_1-x)O₂ films were [200] c-axis oriented. Three consecutive magnetron sputtering procedure for seed, CZO and cap layer for HTSC films using Ce, Zr and CeO₂ target were carried out on the Si[100] and Ni substrate successfully. It is suggested that sputtered and c-axis oriented (Ce_xZr_1-x)O₂ films can be a potential candidate to replacing YSZ buffer layer.