Formation of samarium doped ceria thin films

Abstract

Samarium doped ceria (SDC) thin films were deposited by e-beam evaporation of Sm_0.15Ce_0.85O_1.95 nanopowder. 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.
Keywords: electron beam deposition, samarium doped ceria (SDC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), thermal treatment
PACS: 81.15.Jj, 66.30.Dn, 82.47.Ed, 73.61.-r