An improved analysis on kinetics of electrochemical vapor deposition

Abstract

An improved method is presented to model the process of electrochemical vapor deposition (EVD) of solid oxide films on porous substrates. This method considers various reaction and mass transfer steps, dopant composition in the EVD film and the EVD reactor configuration. This model allows analysis of the effect of various parameters on the dopant composition in the deposited film as well as the film growth rate of the EVD process. If the surface oxidation reactions are at equilibrium, the dopant composition in the film is the same as the equilibrium value, which depends on the precursors concentration in the vapor phase and the reaction temperature. If the surface oxidation reaction step is the rate-limiting step, the dopant composition in the film is determined by the permeation parameters in the surface oxidation reaction step. In general cases, the dopant composition may vary along the film growing direction. The calculated results can explain the reported experimental data of EVD of yttria-doped zirconia films, and provide a better insight into the EVD process.