Studies of microstructures, optical, nanomechanical and thermal expansion properties of Y2O3, ZrO3, CeO2 and Gd2O3 thin films and Y2O3/ZrO2 and CeO2/Gd2O3 multilayers prepared by pulsed laser deposition

Metal oxides are important candidate materials in almost all domestic as well as industrial applications. Properties of materials can be tailored by changing the microstructure of materials, which are dependent on the process parameters of deposition techniques. This work consists of preparation of single layers of Y2O3, ZrO2, CeO2 and Gd2O3, and multilayer laminates of Y2O3/ZrO2 and CeO2/Gd2O3 by pulsed laser deposition technique, followed by characterization by conventional and high temperature X-ray diffraction, X-ray reflectivity, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, UV-Visible spectroscopy and nanoindentation techniques. Y2O3 and ZrO2 films were prepared on Si (100) and quartz substrates to study the effect of process parameters on the microstructural and optical properties. Multilayer structures of ZrO2/Y2O3 were prepared at 300 and 873 K, followed by the measurements of optical and nanomechanical properties