The use of RBS technique in characterising RF-magnetron sputtered perovskite films

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) is an alternative method for electricity generation by electrochemical means. The materials used in the interconnect component of a fuel cell stack must meet stringent requirements. Some perovskites such as La1-xCaxCrO3 (LCC) have been used as the interconnect in SOFC, however it high costs have made it economically unsuitable for commercial use. A possible alternative material is stainless steel. The main weakness in this material is that it rapidly corrodes in air at the high operating temperatures required for SOFC. Furthermore, a number of studies have found that chromia forming alloy when used as an interconnect released chromium-oxide gaseous species which caused severe degradation of the fuel cell. Therefore, a ceramic protecting layer on the alloy could help to minimise or prevent this effect. Sputtering deposition of perovskite materials on an alloy have not been reported in literature, however, spray-painted of La1-xSrxCrO3 on a chromium forming alloy had been carried out but with limited success in minimising the corrosion of the alloy at high temperatures. In this work, a RF-magnetron sputtering technique was used to deposit different thicknesses of LCC on silicon and on stainless steel substrates at various deposition parameters. Rutherford Backscattered Spectroscopy (RBS) and the RUMP program was then used to characterise the deposited films