Abstract
Grain growth, oxygen stoichiometry and phase stability of nanostructurally-stabilized cubic zirconia (NSZ) are investigated under 2 MeV Au ion bombardment at 160 and 400 K to doses up to 35 displacements per atom (dpa). The NSZ films are produced by ion-beam-assisted deposition technique at room temperature with an average grain size of 7.7 nm. The grain size increases with dose, and follows a power law (n=6) to a saturation value of ~30 nm that decreases with temperature. Slower grain growth is observed under 400 K irradiations, as compared to 160 K irradiations, indicating that the grain growth is not thermally activated and irradiation-induced grain growth is the dominating mechanism. While the cubic structure is retained and no new phases are identified after the high-dose irradiations, oxygen reduction in the irradiated NSZ films is detected. The ratio of O to Zr decreases from ~2.0 for the as-deposited films to ~1.65 after irradiation to ~35 dpa. The loss of oxygen suggests a significant increase of oxygen vacancies in nanocrystalline zirconia under ion irradiation. The oxygen deficiency may be essential in stabilizing the cubic phase to larger grain sizes.