Oxygen diffusion and defect mechanism in c-axis textured thin films of YBa2Cu3O7−x by resistivity measurements

Abstract

Isothermal resistivity measurements have been carried out to study the dynamics of oxygen out- and in-diffusion in thin films of YBa2Cu3O7−x in the temperature range 648–773 K. The activation energies for the out- and in-diffusion were determined to be 1·36 and 0·7 eV respectively. We have modelled the resistance-time plots for the oxygen in-diffusion using an equation for one dimensional diffusion into a plane. The microstructural defects such as low angle grain boundaries associated with the c-axis oriented grains are believed to provide the required diffusion paths in thin films of YBCO.