Abstract: SiO₂ doped ZrO₂ buffer layers were successfully prepared by a sol-gel technique using zirconyl
chloride octahydrate ZrOCl₂·8H₂O as the precursor on stainless steel and a gold film was deposited on the buffer layer by a vacuum evaporation
deposition method. XRD, FTIR, SEM and AES measurements were used to investigate the performance of the layers as well as the physical and
chemical changes after annealing. The results show that tetragonal ZrO₂ buffer layers possess a preferential orientation at the (200)
crystal plane due to the influence of stainless steel substrate. And there is some interdiffusion at the interface of buffer layer and
substrate, which improves the adhesion of ZrO₂ layer and stainless steel. The measurement of normal emittance(ε) of Au-ZrO₂-SS
before and after 850℃ heat treatment indicates that ZrO₂ buffer layers can effectively suppress the interdiffusion of the gold film
and the substrate.

Key words: ZrO₂, sol-gel, buffer layers, interdiffusion