Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2011
Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and channeling techniques have been used to investigate the crystalline quality and interfacial properties of epitaxially grown CeO2 and Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 films on yttria-stabilized ZrO2(111) substrates. Both films appear to have high crystalline quality with minimum yield of Ce in the CeO2and Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 films determined to be 4.7% and 12.1% respectively. Visibility of more Ce atoms to the ion beam at the interface compared to the bulk of the film indicates that both films show significant disorder at the interface. The normalized angular yield curves obtained from Ce and Zr indicate that the Ce atomic rows in the CeO2 film are parallel to the Zr atomic rows in the substrates. Approximately 88% of the Zr atoms substitutionally occupy the Ce cation lattice sites in the Ce0.7Zr0.3O2 film.