In-plane aligned YBCO thick films grown<i>in situ</i>by high temperature ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Abstract

Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) has been used to deposit thick films (up to 5 micron) of YBa2Cu3O7-x in situ on single-crystal oxide substrates, and single-crystal and textured polycrystalline Ag foil of different orientations. Epitaxial films grow with a strong level of in-plane texture on the single crystal oxide substrates (<3° full width at half maximum) and on (100) and (110) oriented Ag. Films grown under optimized conditions have onset Tc of 91 K with transition widths of ~ 6 K. The films are fully connected and Jc are ~ 1.0×104A cm-2 at 77 K and ~ 5×105A cm-2 at 20 K.