Epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7 films on rolled-textured metals for high-temperature superconducting applications

The epitaxial growth of high temperature superconducting (HTS) films on rolled-textured metal represents a viable approach for long-length superconducting tapes. Epitaxial, 0.5 mu m thick YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films with critical current densities, J(c), greater than 1 MA cm(-2) have been realized on rolled-textured (001) Ni tapes with yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/CeO2 oxide buffer layers. This paper describes the synthesis using pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) of epitaxial oxide buffer layers on biaxially-textured metal that comprise the so-called rolling-assisted biaxially-textured substrates (RABiTS(TM)). The properties of the buffer and YBa2Cu3O7 films on rolled-textured Ni are discussed, with emphasis given to the crystallographic and microstructural properties that determine the superconducting properties of these multilayer structures. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.