Abstract
We have grown epitaxial Y
2O
3 buffer layers on biaxially textured Ni–W substrates for YBCO coated conductors using a newly developed metal organic decomposition (MOD) approach. Y
2O
3 precursor solution of 0.25
M concentration was spin coated on short samples of Ni-3 at.%W (Ni–W) substrates and heat-treated at 1150
°C in a gas mixture of Ar–4% H
2 for an hour. Detailed X-ray studies indicate that Y
2O
3 films have good out-of-plane and in-plane textures with full-width-half-maximum values of 6.22° and 7.51°, respectively. SEM and AFM investigations of Y
2O
3 films reveal a fairly dense and smooth microstructure without cracks and porosity. Highly textured YSZ barrier layers and CeO
2 cap layers were deposited on MOD Y
2O
3-buffered Ni–W substrates using rf-magnetron sputtering. Pulsed laser deposition was used to grow YBCO films on these substrates. A critical current,
J
c, of about 1.21
MA/cm
2 at 77
K and self-field was obtained on YBCO (PLD)/CeO
2 (sputtered)/YSZ (sputtered)/Y
2O
3 (spin-coated)/Ni–W.