Electrical conductivity relaxation in thin-film yttria-stabilized zirconia

We report on complex admittance measurements on ZrO2:Y2O3 (YSZ) thin films in the parallel plate geometry. Highly textured YSZ thin films, grown by rf sputtering, allow measuring complex admittance free of the effect of charg e blocking at grain boundaries. We have examined low-temperature (close to room temperature) regime dominated by association of oxygen vacancies. Comp lex admittance analyzed in terms of the modulus formalism supplies informat ion on correlation effects in ion motion and allows obtaining an associatio n energy for the oxygen vacancies of 0.45 eV, in agreement with previous th eoretical calculations. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.