Epitaxial Yttria-stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) film deposited on Si(100) substrate by YAG laser

The fourth harmonic of Q-switched YAG was used to deposit yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) film on Si(100) substrate. A secondary function generator was employed to modulate Q-switch while the primary generator was synchronized with flash lamps to decrease repetition rate of laser beam. At rate of 2 Hz, beam energy increased ∼ 50% per pulse. YSZ film was deposited on Si(100) using 3 mol% YSZ sintered pellet and ∼ 9 mol% single crystal YSZ as targets. In order to improve crystallinity of YSZ, two-step deposition was also carried out; deposition in oxygen insufficient atmosphere followed by oxygen sufficient atmosphere. The full width at half maxim (FWHM) of rocking curve showed ∼1.4° for the film produced by two-step deposition on Si substrate with thin SiO₂ layer using single crystal YSZ as a target.