High-Temperature (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy Superconducting Films with Large Irreversible Fields Grown on SrLaAlO4 Substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

(Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy is a nontoxic cuprate superconducting material with a superconducting transition temperature of about 116 K. Recently, it was found that bulk samples of this material synthesized under high pressure hold the highest irreversibility line among all the superconductors, which is very promising for its application in the liquid nitrogen temperature field. In this work, high-temperature (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy superconducting films with large irreversible fields were prepared on SrLaAlO4(00l) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The substrate temperature during deposition proved to be the most important parameter determining the morphology and critical temperature of the superconductors, with 680 °C considered to be the optimum temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy films prepared under optimal conditions exhibited epitaxial growth with the a-axis perpendicular to the film surface and the b- and c-axes parallel to the substrate, with no evidence of any other orientation. In addition, resistivity measurements showed that the onset transition temperature (Tconset) was approximately 116 K, the zero-resistance critical temperature (Tc0) was around 53 K, and the irreversible field (Hirr) was about 9 T at 37 K for (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy films under optimal temperature. This is the first example of the successful growth of superconducting (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy films on SrLaAlO4(00l) substrates. This will facilitate high-performance applications of (Cu,C)Ba2Ca3Cu4Oy superconducting materials in the liquid nitrogen temperature field.