Preparation and Characterization of TiN Seed Layer in All-Conductive Multilayer Structure for Coated Conductors

Abstract

TiN films were successfully prepared on biaxially textured Ni-5 at.%W substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD), serving as a seed layer of an all-conductive architecture, i.e., SrRuO3(SRO)/TiN, for coated conductors. The structure and surface morphology of the TiN films were noticeably affected by the substrate temperature and pulse repetition rate. The subsequent conductive SRO and superconducting YBCO layer were deposited on the best sample of TiN buffered Ni-5 at.%W substrates. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that the biaxial textures were transferred from the TiN seed layer to the SRO cap layer and YBCO film with excellent out-of-plane and in-plane textures. The superconducting transition curves and the temperature-dependent resistivity of YBCO films on all-conductive buffer and on the traditional insulated CeO2/YSZ/Y2O3 were also investigated.