Growth of nanolaminate structure of tetragonal zirconia by pulsed laser deposition.

Alumina/zirconia (Al2O3/ZrO2) multilayer thin films were deposited on Si (100) substrates at an optimized oxygen partial pressure of 3 Pa at room temperature by pulsed laser deposition. The Al2O3/ZrO2 multilayers of 10:10, 5:10, 5:5, and 4:4 nm with 40 bilayers were deposited alternately in order to stabilize a high-temperature phase of zirconia at room temperature. All these films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), and atomic force microscopy.