Film growth of BaZrO3-doped YBa2Cu3O7−δ by using fluorine-free metal–organic deposition

Abstract

In this study, BaZrO3 (BZO)-doped YBCO films were fabricated on SrTiO3(100) single-crystal substrates by a fluorine-free metal–organic deposition (MOD) process. We added extra Ba and Zr organic salts, which formed well-dispersed ∼10–25 nm sized BaZrO3 nanoparticles in the YBCO films. The in-field critical current density (Jc) and the peak pinning force (Fp) were greatly enhanced in the BZO-doped sample at 77 K relative to pure YBCO films. The optimal BZO content that gave the highest peak pinning force of ∼10 GN m−3 in a ∼180 nm thick film was found to be x = 0.10 for YBCO + xBZO films, where x is moles of BZO per 1 mol of YBCO. The angular dependence of in-field Jc measurements shows the BZO nanoparticles increased Jc over the entire angular range and also reduced the angular anisotropy measured at 4 T at 77 K.