Growth of HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8 thin films using stable Re0.1Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox precursor by pulsed laser deposition

High quality c-axis oriented HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8 thin films have been fabricated with the stable Re-doped Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox precursor powder by pulsed laser deposition followed by postannealing without any special handling. As-grown films on (100) SrTiO3 exhibit a zero-resistance transition (T-c,T-zero) at similar to 131 K with a narrow transition width Delta T similar to 1.5 K after oxygen annealing at 340 degrees C for 12 h. The critical current densities are observed 1.1x10(7) A/cm(2) at 10 K and 1.2x10(5) A/cm(2) at 120 K in zero field. The x-ray diffraction pattern indicates highly c-axis oriented thin films normal to the substrate plane containing a minor HgBa2CaCu2O6 phase. The scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that the surface morphology of the film is well connected platelike crystals but reveals Ba-Cu-O-x, impurities are uniformly scattered across the film surface. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.