Ion beam assisted texturing of polycrystalline Y2O3 films deposited via electron-beam evaporation

Ion-beam assisted deposition of polycrystalline Y₂O₃ films using e-beam evaporation was investigated. For growth on non-crystalline substrates, low temperature growth yields randomly oriented polycrystalline material. At elevated temperature, surface energy anisotropy yields a (111) uniaxial texture. For film deposition with irradiation from an Ar ion beam, the out-of-plane texture remained (111) in orientation. The incident Ar ion beam induces an in-plane alignment of the Y₂O₃ films that is relatively broad. A six-fold symmetry in the out-of-plane X-ray diffraction phi-scans was observed for the (111) textured Y₂O₃ films, indicating a multi-variant in-plane texture and suggesting anisotropic damage along both the (110) and (100) projections. The lack of a sharp, single variant in-plane texture with ion beam irradiation is consistent with the relatively weak bond strength in Y₂O₃.