PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 and SrBi2Nb2O9 ferroelectric oxides integrated with YBa2Cu3O7 superconductor in multilayers epitaxially grown by pulsed laser deposition

Multilayers of PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3 (PZT) or SrBi2Nb2O9 (SBN) ferroelectrics (F) and YBa2Cu3O7 (YBaCuO) superconductor (S) have been grown by pulsed laser deposition. F/S or S/F bilayers as well as S/F/S trilayers deposited on SrTiO3 and MgO were epitaxially grown, as evidenced by x-ray diffraction (XRD) in theta-2theta and phi-scans modes, reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) or electron channeling patterns (ECP). Superconducting YBaCuO Films deposited on PZT exhibit a critical temperature, T-c, of about 86 K slightly below the value routinely obtained in the same deposition conditions on bare (100)SrTio(3) substrate (typically 88-89 K). By contrast, the T-c of YBaCuO films on SBN, either on (100)SrTiO3 or on (100)MgO is close to 88-89 K suggesting that SBN can be a good candidate as ferroelectric buffer layer for the growth of YBaCuO, especially on MgO for which a graphoepitaxial mechanism tends to limit the YBaCuO growth quality. In the case of F/S layers, hysteresis loops of PZT on YBaCuO show a saturated polarization larger than 30 muC/cm(2) and a coercive field of about 70 kV/cm. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) experiments have been performed in order to correlate interdiffusion mechanisms with both structural data and physical properties.