Ion conductive character of low-yttria-content yttria-stabilized zirconia at low temperature

Abstract In this work, we discuss ion conductive character of low-Y 2 O 3 -content yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) crystallized into high-symmetric phase (cubic and/or tetragonal phases) at relatively low temperature. Low-Y 2 O 3 -content YSZ was certainly stabilized into high-symmetric phase by extreme thinning down to around 10 nm. We analyzed the impedance response from ultra-thin YSZ films in metal/insulator/metal (MIM) capacitor measured in the temperature range of 30 °C–440 °C. It is expected that a characteristic kink on Nyquist-diagram is correlated to the conductivity of inner grain of the YSZ. The activation energy for ion conduction is monotonically reduced with decreasing Y 2 O 3 content, whereas the conductivity still exhibits the highest value at certain Y 2 O 3 content.