Laser-ablation deposition of CeO2 thin films on biaxially textured nickel substrates

Ceria buffer layers were deposited by pulsed laser ablation on (100)[001] cube-textured Ni substrate for the fabrication of high-current Y-Ba-Cu-O tapes for power applications. The films were grown both on Pd-buffered Ni and on pure Ni substrates. The CeO2 film deposited directly on Ni was not fully epitaxially grown as it had a polycrystalline component. On the contrary, the theta-2 theta X-ray diffraction pattern of Ni-Pd-CeO2 architecture contained only the (h00) peaks of Pd, Ni and CeO2, indicating good epitaxy of Pd and CeO2 on Ni, and the pole figure showed (100)[001] texture for Pd film and Ni substrate, and (100)[011] for CeO2 film. The surface of the as-obtained CeO2 films was smooth and continuous, hence appropriate for further YBCO film deposition. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.