Deposition of Y₂O₃film on textured metal substrates for a single buffer layer of a YBCO coated conductor

Abstract

A study regarding the epitaxial growth of Y2O3 film on textured metal substrate and its use as a single buffer layer of a YBCO coated conductor is reported. Different deposition conditions were employed and compared in order to obtain good epitaxial Y2O3 film followed by deposition of YBCO superconducting films. The YBCO film deposited by PLD on top of the Y2O3 films has good microstructure and superconducting properties. The effect of the thickness of Y2O3 film on the texture of Y2O3 film and the critical current density (Jc) of YBCO film deposited on top of that were analysed. The Jc of YBCO films on Y2O3/Ni and Y2O3/NiW were 1.0 × 106 A cm−2 and 1.1 × 106 A cm−2 at 77 K and self-field respectively, which indicated that Y2O3 is a suitable candidate as a single buffer layer for the fabrication of a YBCO coated conductor.