The fundamental purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility to obtain an undoped zirconia thick film, by controlling the microstructure and mechanical state, using MOCVD and Sol-Gel technique. Firstly, we try to optimize the MOCVD deposition conditions, by varying the different process parameters, leading to the production of ZrO2 micrometric and dense films. The stability of the tetragonal zirconia phase depends on the oxygen partial pressure, the substrate temperature and the film thickness. The crystallographic texture of {100} type is obtained for the deposits obtained under a substrate temperature T ≤ 850°C and a low total pressure. Concerning mechanical state of the zirconia films, the thickness increasing can relax the tensile residual stress within the deposit. This phenomenon accents beyond a critical thickness due to the creation of columns spaces during film growth. In the second part, we show that the quality of the Sol-Gel deposition is controlled by substrate origin, use of aged sol, increase of “spin-coating” layers number, deposition mode and annealing temperature. Some deposit characteristics such as crystallization, phase composition and film adhesion are easily controlled by sol aging, annealing temperature and thermal expansion coefficient associated to the used substrate, respectively. The microstructure (phase change, crystalline size, crystallographic texture) and the internal stresses (thermal and residual) were characterized. The Sol-Gel technique has the advantage of providing zirconia films with low stress level compared to the films obtained by MOCVD. Regardless of the deposition process, MOCVD and / or Sol-Gel, the development of ZrO2 oriented films is in function of the treatment temperature. The attempt to get multilayer zirconia by coupling MOCVD/Sol-Gel methods shows the possibility to choose the deposition parameters in order to produce films with controlled and wanted microstructure and mechanical state.
