Chemical Solution Deposition of SrZrO3 Buffer Layers by Different Polymer Additives

Abstract

A series of SrZrO3 (SZO) buffer layers were prepared on SrTiO3 (STO) single crystal substrate by a polymer-assisted chemical solution deposition (CSD) approach. Influence of different polymer additives on the properties of SZO buffer layers has been investigated. Compared with PVP (pyrrolidone)- and PEG (polyethylene glycol)-assisted SZO buffer layers, SZO buffer layer assisted by PVB (polyvinyl butyral) has better in-plane and out-of-plane texture as well as denser surface microstructure. The root mean square roughness of PVB-assisted SZO layer is around 3.68 nm over a surface cut-out of 5 μm×5 μm. In addition, the thickness of the SZO layer assisted by PVB is up to 230 nm. These results indicate that the polymer-assisted CSD method is promising to prepare the high-performance and single buffer layers for high-temperature superconducting coated conductors.