Orientation growth and morphological developments of chemically deposited Ce-doped lanthanum zirconate films

A series of Ce-doped lanthanum zirconate (LZO) thin films were fabricated by chemical solution deposition method on textured metallic substrates. Orientation growth and morphological developments of chemically deposited doped LZO films were studied. Thus, characteristics, including X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectra, and atomic force microscopy, were applied. The results show that a single (00l) orientation of LZO grains obviously converted to random orientation as Ce content increases in doped LZO film. However, the doping of Ce element is beneficial to the refinement of LZO grain and the improvement of surface flatness of LZO film. The proportion of Ce3+ is very different in film when Ce element with variable valence is doped to be substitution of La or that of Zr in doped LZO, which affects the oxygen vacancy concentration and the nucleation process of the oxide film. Therefore, it can be considered that the composition and structural stability as well as the nucleation energy barrier among the doped LZO film with different Ce content result in the great differences in the growth orientation and microstructure of the final crystal film.