Growth of biaxially textured buffer layers on rolled-Ni substrates by electron beam evaporation

This paper describes the development of two buffer layer architectures on rolled-Ni substrates using an electron beam evaporation technique. The first buffer layer architecture consists of an epitaxial laminate of CeO2/Pd/Ni. The second alternative buffer layer consists of an epitaxial laminate of YSZ/CeO2/Ni. The cube (100) texture in the Ni was produced by cold-rolling followed by recrystallization. The CeO2 films were grown epitaxially on both Pd-buffered and textured-Ni substrates. The YSZ films were grown epitaxially on CeO2-buffered Ni substrates. The crystallographic orientation of the Pd, CeO2, and YSZ films were all (100). We also studied the effect of the CeO2 layer thickness and crack formation on textured-Ni substrates. The layer thickness was found to be critical. For some thicknesses, cracks formed in the CeO2 layer. The presence of YSZ layers on the CeO2 layers seem to alleviate the cracks that are formed underneath. Our SEM studies showed that both CeO2 (3-10 nm thick underlayer) and YSZ layers were smooth and continuous.