Texturing of pure and doped CeO2 thin films by EBPVD through target engineering

In this paper, we report the effect of annealing temperature of target on the texture of thin films coated by electron beam physical vapor deposition method. Nanocrystalline cerium oxide (CeO2) and 20 mol% samarium doped cerium oxide (SDC) powders, compacted into pellets, were used as targets after annealing at 300, 500 and 800 degrees C. Grain size analysis of the target by X-ray diffraction showed a size range of 12-52 nm and 9-22 nm for CeO2 and SDC, respectively. Texture coefficient calculation from glancing incident X-ray diffraction showed a preferential orientation of (111) in CeO2 films. However SDC films exhibited (200) orientation grown at the expense of (111) which resulted in higher residual strain with annealing temperature. The pole figure analysis elucidated smaller in-plane misorientation in CeO2 than in SDC films. Under similar deposition conditions, difference in textured growth between CeO2 and SDC is primarily induced by vapor pressure modifications associated with the annealing temperature of the target. Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies of the films indicate the presence of higher oxygen vacancy concentration in SDC as well as a decrease in Ce3+ concentration with target annealing temperature.