Physical characterization of YSZ solid electrolyte thin films fabricated by sputtering techniques

Yttrium stabilized zirconium oxide (YSZ) is a very interesting material for industrial applications such as fuel cells or electrochemical sensors. One of the approaches to improve the performance of these devices is to reduce the YSZ thickness. In this work, the fabrication process and structural properties of RF sputtered YSZ thin films onto alumina substrates are analyzed. Under the deposition conditions used in this study, cubic YSZ layers have been obtained with a crystallite size of 19 nm. The ionic conductivity of the YSZ thin films was also determined in the temperature range from 648 K to 848 K.