Textured CeO 2 buffer layers on amorphous substrates by ion beam assisted deposition

Abstract

CeO 2 buffer layers have been deposited on amorphous quartz glass substrates by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The growth of the films was studied as a function of various deposition parameters like substrate temperature, angle of incidence of the assist beam, ion to atom ratio, film thickness, etc. At optimized deposition conditions (1 0 0) textured growth was achieved with out-of-plane mosaic spreads of 7° and in-plane alignment of 12°. The experiments have shown that low atomic mobility obtained by low substrate temperatures and appropriate ion to atom ratios are advantageous for the (1 0 0) texture formation. The optimized angle of incidence of 55° indicates that both {1 1 0} planar and [1 1 1] axial channeling effects contribute to the in-plane alignment. Best textured growth was achieved for films with thicknesses above 700 nm. First YBaCuO films deposited on such buffer layers revealed mosaic spreads of 1.3° and superconducting transitions above 80 K.