Dramatic effects of chlorine addition on expanding synthesis conditions for fluorine-free metal–organic decomposition YBa2Cu3Oy films

Abstract

The synthesis conditions of fluorine-free metal–organic decomposition (FF-MOD)-processed YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) films on buffered metallic substrates have been systematically investigated. Chlorine addition to the starting solution was found to be quite effective for expanding the synthesis conditions of highly c-axis-oriented YBCO films. YBCO films showing a high critical current, ∼100 A/cm (77 K, ∼0 T), were successfully obtained by sintering at 740 °C, which is ∼50 °C lower than the typical sintering temperature for FF-MOD-processed YBCO films. This strongly indicated that chlorine addition is promising for the development of long and homogeneous YBCO tapes even by sintering at a low temperature of ∼740 °C.