Impedance spectroscopy (IS) has been used to characterise the degradation of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) due to thermal treatments at 1100°C for a period up to 200 hrs. The growth of the oxide layer at the yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ)/bond coat interface in TBCs can be examined by measuring the impedance diagrams. From the analysis of the impedance diagrams of TBCs, the electrical properties of YSZ were found to be nearly constant during the thermal treatments, indicating there was little change in the microstructure and composition of YSZ. However, there was a clear change in the electrical properties of the oxide layer in the TBCs after thermal treatments, suggesting both microstructural and composition changes occurred in the oxide layer. These studies indicate that the IS is a very useful method in non-destructive characterisation of the degradation of TBCs.