Deposition of biaxially aligned YSZ films on inclined polycrystalline metallic substrates for YBa2Cu3O7-δ tapes

We report on a method to deposit biaxially aligned yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) films on polycrystalline metallic substrates by laser ablation at room temperature, and demonstrate the fabrication of in-plane aligned, c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) films with these (001) biaxially textured YSZ buffer layers. The crystallographic orientation of the YSZ layer depends strongly on the deposition conditions. The growth direction perpendicular to the substrate plane can be adjusted between the (001) and the (111) direction by varying the substrate temperature from room temperature to 400 degrees C. In-plane alignment of either orientation can be achieved by simply inclining the substrate normal by 55 degrees away from the plume axis. This inclination does not significantly affect the orientation perpendicular to the substrate surface. The subsequent deposition of YBCO films on (001) in-plane aligned YSZ yielded epitaxial films as shown by X-ray measurements. Critical current measurements on wet chemically etched tracks resulted in 1.2 x 10(5) A/cm(2) in zero field at 77 K. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.