Thin film properties can be controlled to a large degree by the substrate upon which the film is grown. The substrate surface can affect the film's crystal phase and microstructure and, thereby, many other properties. In this study, yttria-stabilized zirconia films on single crystal MgO and Al2O3 substrates with polished, ion cleaned, or milled surfaces were studied. The different substrate surfaces influenced the thin films' microstructures and ionic conductivities. The increased roughness of the milled surfaces led to significant decreases in both the crystallinity and the ionic conductivity of the films. Ion cleaning of the substrate surface immediately before deposition did not affect the conductivity of films on MgO substrates but led to conductivity reductions by a factor of about 4 on sapphire substrates. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.