Preparation and properties of in-situ YBaCuO films on Si substrates with buffer layers

This paper reports on high Tc YBaCuO superconducting films prepared in-situ on Si substrates with buffer layers using off-axis single-target RF magnetron sputtering. A special cylinder heater with a reflecting cone was used to grow in-situ YBaCuO films on different buffer layers, such as Y-stabilized ZrO2(YSZ), LaAlO3, LaGaO3, NdAlO3, NdGaO3, SrTiO3, and MgO. The YBaCuO films on YSZ and LaAlO3 buffer layers have Tc(zero) of 84 K and 83 K respectively. Films deposited at substrate temperatures above 650 degrees C have preferential orientation with c-axis perpendicular to the film surface. The films also show excellent surface smoothness up to atomic scale with a roughness of 5 Angstrom