Comparison of Structural and Electrical Properties of Strontium Zirconate Pellets and Thin Films

In this study, SrZr0,84Y0,16O3-α (SZY16) coatings and pellets were synthesized by co-sputtering and solid state reaction, respectively, in order to compare their structural and electrical properties. The SZY16 as deposited coatings are amorphous and must be annealed at 623 K to crystallize in the convenient SrZrO3 perovskite structure. After annealing, the grain size of the coatings is about half that of the sintered pellets. SEM analysis shows that both pellets and coatings remain stable after several heating cycles. Activation energies of the total electrical conductivity are 0.68 eV for both the film and the pellet. Nyquist diagrams show that the pellet yields two contributions whereas only one can be detected for the film, attributed to interfacial processes. Finally, the conductivity of the film is about one order of magnitude lower than that of the corresponding bulk pellet.