ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMICAL VAPOR-DEPOSITED LAYERS OF STABILIZED ZIRCONIA ON SAPPHIRE AS A SUBSTRATE FOR LASER ABLATED YBA2CU3O7-X THIN-FILMS

Substrates of (1102BAR1) sapphire single crystals were covered with Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) thin films deposited from 2,2,6,6 tetramethyl-3, 5-heptanedione precursors of Zr and Y by organometallic chemical vapor deposition. The YSZ layers were indeed oriented on the (100) planes as established by x-ray diffraction. Thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) were then deposited on top of the YSZ layer by laser ablation. A critical temperature (R = 0) of 90 K was obtained which is among the highest observed for YSZ. However, the critical current density at 77 K was only of the order of 10(3) A/cm2, which is common of polycrystalline YBCO deposited on YSZ.