Optimized screen-printing and SEM-FIB characterization of YSZ thin films for solid oxide fuel cells and gas sensors devices

In the present work, the screen printing technique has been used to deposit thick films of Zr_0.84Y₀₁₆O_1.92 (8YSZ). In order to control the final porosity in view of a specific application (SOFCs or gas sensor), an experimental design based on analysis of variances (ANOVA) has been carried out. From this, we were able to determine the influence of several technological parameters on films porosity and grain size. The films obtained have been analysed with both Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Focused Ion Beam (FIB) combined with SEM. We show that only the combination of experimental design and advanced observation technique such as Focused Ion Beam allowed us to extract significant information for the improvement of the deposition process.