Oblique ion texturing of yttria-stabilized zirconia: the {211} structure

Amorphous (Zr,Y)O_x films were synthesized by reactive magnetron sputtering and subsequently crystallized by oblique ion bombardment. Crystalline texture nucleated by the ion beam was replicated by solid-phase epitaxial growth throughout the formerly amorphous yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) film. The resulting YSZ films have (211) orientation normal to the substrate with in-plane directions (111), parallel, and (110), transverse, to the azimuth of the ion beam. We hypothesize that the texture mechanism involves ion-induced film compression and shear. The results, taken together with prior work, show that oblique ion texturing of amorphous films is a general phenomenon that can be used to fabricate substrates with more than one type of crystallographic orientation.