The structural and electrical properties of GDC10 thin films formed by e-beam technique

Gadolinium doped cerium (GDC10) thin film ceramics were prepared by evaporating Gd0.1Ce0.9O1.95 powder, using an e-beam evaporation technique. The initial powder of GDC10, with different surface areas (BET: 6.44, 36.2, 201 m2/g), were used to prepare thin ceramic films. The GDC10 thin ceramic films (thickness ~ 1.4 μm) were formed on optical quartz substrate (substrate geometry 2.5 × 2.5 cm). rmed GDC10 thin ceramic films structural properties were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The electrical properties of the samples were investigated with an AC impedance spectroscopy in the temperature range 473–873 K and frequency range 10− 1–106 Hz. rmed GDC10 thin films repeat the crystallographic orientation of evaporated powder and do not depend on the initial powder grain size and deposition rate. It was determined that crystallite size has an influence on conductivity and diffusion coefficient. The ionic conductivity and activation energy depends on crystallite size. The best ionic conductivity and the lowest activation energy are 9.00 · 10− 1 S/m and 1.13 eV, respectively. The activation energy varies from 1.19 to 1.29 eV, and depends on crystallite size, too.