Preparation of cubic alumina and scandia doped zirconia and its thin film fabrication by pulsed laser deposition technique

Alumina and scandia doped zirconia was prepared through a soft chemistry synthesis route and sintered at 1873 K. X-ray diffraction patterns indicate a pure cubic phase for the composition of 0.88ZrO2-0.112Sc2O3-0.008Al2O3. Thin films were fabricated on Al2O3 〈0001〉 substrates using pulsed laser deposition technique. Dense films of 0.941 μm thickness were obtained at 873 and 1023 K substrate temperatures at an oxygen partial pressure of 15 Pa. The ionic conductivity of both thin film and sintered pellet was measured using ac impedance spectroscopy in air. The conductivity values are higher for thin films compared to that of sintered pellets.