Quasi-Homoepitaxial Growth of a-Axis Oriented PrBa2Cu3O7-δ Thick Film on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ Single Crystal

Abstract

The structural characterizations of the quasi-homoepitaxial growth of a-axis oriented PrBa2Cu3O7-δ thick film grown on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal were investigated in comparison with those of the film grown on (001) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal. The a-axis oriented PrBa2Cu3O7-δ films, expected to be a barrier layer, were prepared using a dc-95 MHz hybrid plasma sputtering on (100) and (001) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystals that are superconducting ground planes. The atomic force microscopy image revealed that the surfaces of 700-nm-thick a-axis PrBa2Cu3O7-δ films on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystals were smooth with a mean roughness of 2.8 nm. X-ray diffraction scans showed that a-axis PrBa2Cu3O7-δ films deposited on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal had good crystallinity. Moreover, the φ-scans of X-ray diffraction for the (102) reflection revealed that a-axis PrBa2Cu3O7-δ film on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal had an in-plane orientation such that the c-axis of PrBa2Cu3O7-δ film aligned along the c-axis of the (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal, which suggested the film was well grown epitaxially on (100) YBa2Cu3O7-δ single crystal until it reached 700 nm thickness.