Formation of samarium doped ceria thin films

Abstract

Samarium doped ceria (SDC) thin films were deposited by e-beam evaporation of Sm0.15Ce0.85O1.95nanopowder.The influence of electron gun power and temperature of substrate (optical quartz and Alloy Fe-Ni-Cr) on film crystallite size and texture were studied.The formed SDC thin films were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).It was determined that electron gun power (in range from 0.12 to 0.78 kW) has influence on crystallite size (increased from 5 to 19.2 nm) which increases as the gun power increases.The crystallite size increases from 12 to 47 nm by increasing substrate temperature from 100 to 600 • C. The texture of formed SDC thin films is not influenced by e-beam gun power and substrate temperature.The thermal treatment shows that deposited SDC thin films are stable and the crystallite size and texture are not changing during the heating and cooling.