In-plane aligned YBCO thick films on {110} rolled and single crystal silver by ultrasonic mist pyrolysis

Abstract

An ultrasonic mist pyrolysis system has been used to fabricate thick films of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ (YBCO) on rolled and single crystal silver substrates. The substrates were heated to 900/spl deg/C and nitrate solutions of the constituent cations were sprayed using a nitrogen carrier gas. Highly c-axis aligned YBCO films were obtained by deposition at a rate of /spl sim/1 /spl mu/m per minute. Phase pure YBCO formed up to a limit of /spl sim/6 /spl mu/m. For thicker films, BaCuO/sub 2/ and Y/sub 2/BaCuO/sub 5/ also formed. On {110} oriented single crystal silver, the films showed in-plane alignment with a four fold symmetry, and the FWHM in the azimuthal direction of the main peaks was /spl sim/3/spl deg/. On the polycrystalline substrate the in-plane texture showed a /spl sim/20/spl deg/ FWHM, equivalent to that of {110} textured silver substrate. The onset of superconducting transition was measured as /spl sim/90.2K for sample with a film thickness of /spl sim/5 /spl mu/m.