Preparation of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) films by combined reactive arc evaporation and magnetron sputtering was investigated in this work. At first, the dependencies of the film deposition rate on oxygen partial pressure, arc discharge current and magnetron discharge power were measured. After complete analysis of the process of arc-magnetron deposition, the YSZ thin films were deposited on silicon, on the alloy-600 and on the ZrO2 ceramic substrates at a substrate temperature of 400 degreesC. The structure and refractive index of films were investigated by X-ray diffraction and ellipsometry, respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.