Application of solution deposition techniques to coated conductor fabrication

Coated conductors offer a viable alternative to the BSCCO PIT tapes. However, at the current juncture, results are being reported for conductors with buffer layers and superconductor layers processed using conventional thin film deposition which are vacuum based. Also these conductors are fabricated using four or five buffer layers between the superconductor and the metal substrate. These aspects of the fabrication route drive the cost of the process to prohibitively high values. This work is directed at the development of fabrication routes for cube textured nickel substrates, and metallorganic decomposition (MOD) routes for buffer layers and Y123 layers using simple solution based techniques which can be readily scaled. Studies of cube texturing of nickel using rolling and recrystallization showed that it is possible to produce textured nickel substrates with a FWHM of 8--10°. The substrate quality of the nickel is determined by the purity of the cube texture and the cleanliness of the surface. Processing of oriented buffer layers of barium zirconate and strontium titanate using simple metal organic decomposition routes have been studied. These processes, which use precursor solutions made by dissolution of simple acetates in common solvents like acetic acid and methanol, produce highly oriented buffer layers even when processed in a partially reducing atmosphere. Therefore, these MOD routes for buffer layer processing are compatible with nickel substrates and produce buffer layers oriented as sharply as the underlying nickel substrate. Y123 processing using fluorinated precursors, as in the TFA process, effectively circumvents the BaCO3 problem associated with most MOD routes for Y123 processing. This route, under optimized process conditions, yields Y123 films with Jc of the order of 106 A/cm2 on single crystal substrates. Studies of the compatibility of the TFA process with the MOD buffer layers showed that current density of the order of 106 A/cm 2 can be obtained for Y123 on buffered single crystals. These results give promise to the applicability of these scaleable solution deposition techniques to coated conductor fabrication.