Microstructural analysis in epitaxial zirconia layers

Y2O3 stabilised ZrO2 (YSZ) layers were deposited on (1 1 2̄ 0) Al2O3 by sol–gel dip-coating. A low temperature heat treatment produces a polycrystalline film. Further heating at 1500 °C yields an epitaxial layer by grain growth of the islands with the lowest interfacial energy. We used a home-made high resolution diffractometer to record reciprocal space maps of the YSZ layer. The simulation of the diffraction profiles with a kinematical scattering model enables us to extract the strain profile within the layer, the average thickness and the vertical island size distribution.