An attempt was made to control the crystal orientation of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films using a modified bias sputtering technique. Two specially devised electrodes installed in a sputtering system were found to play an important role in obtaining films with a high degree of preferred orientation. An argon ion flux extracted from the discharge space formed by these electrodes appeared to impinge on the growing film to form films with this strong preferred orientation. The pole figure obtained by texture analysis revealed the clear evidence for alignment of the in-plane crystal axes of YSZ buffer layers for the growth of YBa2Cu3Oy onto polycrystalline metal substrates. An apparent in-plane texturing was also confirmed in subsequently laser-deposited YBa2Cu3Oy films. As a result, the current-carrying capacity of YBa2Cu3Oy films was markedly improved.