Study of Samarium Doped Cerium Oxide Thin Films Formed by E-beam Technique

Samarium doped cerium oxide (SDC) thin films were deposited onto optical quartz (SiO2) and Alloy 600 (Fe-Ni-Cr) substrates by e-beam evaporation of Sm0.15Ce0.85O1.95 nanopowder. The influence of electron gun power and temperature of substrate on film thickness, porosity, refractive index and crystallite size was studied. Properties of the deposited films were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and transmittance spectroscopy in a visible light wavelength region. Thickness, porosity, and refractive index of films on optical quartz were calculated from the transmittance spectra data by using Swanepoel method. It was determined that electron gun power (in range from 0.12 kW to 0.78 kW) has influence on film thickness (increased from 0.7 mu m to 4.8 mu m) and crystallite size (increased from 5 nm to 19.2 nm) which increase as the gun power increases. Decrease of porosity (from 34.8 % to 7.1%) and increase of refractive index (from 1.63 to 1.9), indicating the increase of film density, were observed while increasing the temperature of substrate (from 100 degrees C to 600 degrees C) during evaporation.