AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session PS-ThP

Paper PS-ThP36
Deposition of YSZ Thin Films by Laser-Assisted Plasma Coating at Atmospheric Pressure (LAPCAP)

Thursday, November 1, 2012, 6:00 pm, Room Central Hall

Session: Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: Z. Ouyang, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Authors: Z. Ouyang, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Y.L. Wu, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
P. Raman, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
L. Meng, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
T.S. Cho, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
D.N. Ruzic, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Correspondent: Click to Email

A laser-assisted plasma-coating technique at atmospheric pressure (LAPCAP) for depositing thin yttria-stabilized-zirconia (YSZ) films has been developed. This technique allows columnar-structured YSZ films with a thickness of 1~5 µm to be prepared on a Ni-based superalloy substrate at atmospheric pressure. The atmospheric pressure plasma is generated in a microwave-induced plasma torch system with a gas temperature Tg of more than 2,000 °C. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique has been used to spatially analyze some critical characteristics of plasma, such as electron density (ne > 1015 cm-3), electron temperature (Te ~ 1 eV), and plasma gas temperature (Tg ~ 800-1200 °C). The thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer is found to affect the film morphology significantly, and characteristics of TGO grown by pre-heating the substrate to 800-1200 °C are investigated. TGO in the form of α-Al2O3 with a thickness of ~ 1 µm is found to provide a means to deposit high quality, adhesive thin YSZ films on substrates with columnar microstructure, same as seen in films by high-vacuum electron-beam PVD method. The morphology and characteristics of the films have been compared at various deposition temperatures (100-1200 ºC) and laser energy density (1-10 J/cm2), using microanalysis techniques such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD).