Rapid ion-beam-induced Ostwald ripening in two dimensions

Ion-beam-induced grain coarsening in initially amorphous (Zr,Y)Ox layers is observed by atomic force microscopy. The films were bombarded at room temperature. Grain-boundary grooves indicate that the larger grains have a diameter of about 83 nm at 2 min, and 131 nm at 5 min. Up to 5 min, the grain size evolves with time as tβ, with β=0.5±0.2. Based on a new parametrization of ion-induced grain-boundary translation, we derive a theoretical estimate of β=3/7, consistent with our measurement. By 7.5 min, many of the grain-boundary grooves are shallow and indistinct, suggesting that the surviving grains are mutually well aligned. Such rapid grain growth at room temperature is unusual and is enabled by the ion bombardment. Similar grain growth processes are expected during ion-beam-assisted deposition film growth. The status of ion-textured yttria stabilized zirconia films as buffer layers for high-current high-temperature superconducting films is briefly summarized