OPTICAL AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF Ni DOPED YSZ THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY EXCIMER LASER ABLATION

Thin films of 5%Ni:YSZ and 10% Ni: YSZ where grown on Si (100) and Pt/Si (100) substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and Radio Frequency Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD-RF). It were reported optical and structural characterization methods like X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy (SIMS), Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (VASE). XRD spectra was influenced by the nature of substrate that was also confirmed in VASE analyses of roughness and refractive index. Also AFM and SIMS measurements demonstrate a stoichiometric transfer of target composition on thin films. Optical properties are characterized by the refractive index values of 5%Ni: YSZ and 10%Ni: YSZ measured by VASE in the spectral range 400-1000 nm, at three angles of incidence: (45, 65 and 70). The thin films being highly transparent it was selected Cauchy dispersion relation for fitting the measured data with optical model. The obtained of dependence of the refractive index as a function of the wavelengths of incident light, from comparasion of data there were some significant differences between values of refractive index, thickness and roughness; influenced by conditions of deposition, type of substrates and level of doping with Ni.