Epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7 films on rolled-textured metals for high-temperature superconducting applications

The epitaxial growth of high temperature superconducting (HTS) films on rol led-textured metal represents a viable approach for long-length superconduc ting tapes. Epitaxial, 0.5 mu m thick YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films with critical current densities, J(c), greater than 1 MA cm(-2) have been realized on rol led-textured (001) Ni tapes with yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)/CeO2 oxid e buffer layers. This paper describes the synthesis using pulsed-laser depo sition (PLD) of epitaxial oxide buffer layers on biaxially-textured metal t hat comprise the so-called rolling-assisted biaxially-textured substrates ( RABiTS(TM)). The properties of the buffer and YBa2Cu3O7 films on rolled-tex tured Ni are discussed, with emphasis given to the crystallographic and mic rostructural properties that determine the superconducting properties of th ese multilayer structures. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.