L’objectif fondamental de cette étude est de montrer la faisabilité de l’élaboration des couches épaisses de zircone non dopée, en contrôlant la microstructure et l’état mécanique, par MOCVD et par Sol-Gel. Dans un premier temps, nous avons essayé d’optimiser les conditions de dépôt de MOCVD, en faisant varier ou en jouant sur les différents paramètres du procédé, conduisant à l’obtention des couches de ZrO2 micrométriques et denses. La stabilité de la phase quadratique de la zircone est conditionnée par la pression partielle en oxygène, la température du substrat ainsi que l’épaisseur du dépôt. La texture cristallographique de type {100} est obtenue pour les dépôts réalisés à une température de substrat T ≤ 850°C et pour de faibles pressions totales. Concernant l’état mécanique des couches de zircone, l’augmentation de l’épaisseur de la couche peut relaxer les contraintes résiduelles de tension au sein du dépôt. Ce phénomène s’accentue au-delà d’une épaisseur critique suite à la création des espacements entre les colonnes de croissance de la couche. Parallèllement, nous avons montré que la qualité des dépôts Sol-Gel est maitrisée par le choix du substrat, l’utilisation de « sols » vieillis, la multiplication du nombre de couches « spin-coating », le mode de dépôt ainsi que la température de recuit. Certaines propriétés caractéristiques du dépôt telles que la cristallisation, la composition de phase et l’adhérence sont aisément contrôlées respectivement par l’âge du sol, la température de recuit et le coefficient de dilatation thermique associé au substrat utilisé. La microstructure (changement de phases, taille des cristallites, texture cristallographique) et les contraintes internes (thermiques et intrinsèques) ont été caractérisées. Le Sol-Gel présente l’avantage de proposer des couches de zircone très peu contraintes par rapport aux films obtenus par le procédé MOCVD. Quel que soit le procédé de dépôt, MOCVD et/ou Sol-Gel, l’élaboration des films de ZrO2 orientés demeure fonction de la température du traitement. La tentative d’élaborer des multicouches de zircone par un couplage MOCVD/Sol-Gel montre la possibilité de sélectionner des paramètres de dépôt propices à la fabrication d’un film présentant un état microstructural et mécanique contrôlé et voulu. / 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.

The aim of this work was to study the separate effect of fission fragment damage on the structural integrity and matrix dissolution of uranium dioxide in water. Radiation damage similar to fission damage was created by irradiating bulk undoped and doped ‘SIMFUEL’ disks of UO2, undoped bulk CeO2 and thin films of UO2 and CeO2 with high energy Xe and U ions. The UO2 thin films, with thicknesses in the range of 90 – 150 nm, were deposited onto (001), (110) and (111) orientations of single crystal LSAT (Al10La3O51Sr14Ta7) and YSZ (Yttria-Stabilised Zirconia) substrates. The CeO2 thin films were deposited onto single crystal silicon (001) substrates. Part of the bulk UO2 and CeO2 samples, the thin films of UO2 on the LSAT substrates and the thin films of CeO2 were irradiated with 92 MeV 129Xe23+ ions to a fluence of 4.8 × 1015 ions/cm2 to simulate the damage produced by fission fragments in uranium dioxide nuclear fuel. Part of the bulk UO2 and CeO2 samples and the thin films of UO2 on the YSZ substrates were irradiated with 110 MeV 238U31+ ions to a fluence of 5 × 1010, 5 × 1011 and 5 × 1012 ions/cm2 to study the accumulation of the damage induced. The irradiated and unirradiated samples were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam (FIB), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques to characterise the as-produced samples and assess the effects of the ion irradiations. Dissolution experiments were conducted to assess the effect of the Xe ion irradiation on the dissolution of the thin film UO2 samples on the LSAT substrates and the bulk and thin film CeO2 samples. The solutions obtained from the leaching of the irradiated and unirradiated samples were analysed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). XRD studies of the bulk UO2 samples showed that the ion irradiations resulted in an increased lattice parameter, microstrain and decreased crystallite size, as expected. The irradiated UO2 thin films on the LSAT substrates underwent significant microstructural and crystallographic rearrangements. It was shown that by irradiating thin films of UO2 with high energy, high fluence ions, it is possible to produce a structure that is similar to a thin slice through the high burn-up structure. It is expected that the ion irradiation induced chemical mixing of the UO2 films with the substrate elements (La, Sr, Al, Ta). As a result, a material similar to a doped SIMFUEL with induced radiation damage was produced.