Development and characterization of biaxially-textured lanthanum zirconate film grown on cold-rolled Ni-W substrate by chemical solution deposition

Highlights: • Growth of biaxially-oriented thin film possible by CSD on cold-rolled fcc metal tape. • No influence of substrate GB migration during heat treatment on film stability. • Loss of local epitaxial relationship between metallic substrate and film. • GB grooving of metallic substrate strongly hampered by the presence of CSD film. High temperature superconducting tapes based on cuprate compounds are nowadays available on long lengths by several companies. Because high superconducting properties are strongly influenced by the crystallographic orientation of the superconducting film, and because the appropriate crystallographic orientation is obtained through epitaxial film growth, the development of an oriented template is of crucial technological importance. In the rolling assisted biaxially textured substrate (RABiTS) technique, a strong cube texture is obtained by cold rolling fcc metal tape and high temperature annealing, followed by the deposition of one or more buffer layer by either physical vapor deposition (PVD) or chemical solution deposition (CSD). Using the latter approach, it has been recently shown that it is possible to combine substrate recrystallization and buffer layer growth in a single step if the onset of recrystallization occurs at a temperature lower than buffer layer nucleation. In the present contribution, a detailed investigation of biaxially-oriented La₂Zr₂O₇ (LZO) buffer layer grown on cold-rolled Ni-W substrate by combined EBSD, AFM and TEM analyses is reported. It is shown that it is possible to obtain highly {001}110-textured LZO film directly on cold-rolled Ni-W substrate. Although some small polycrystalline regions appear, this approach leads to a strong suppression of grain boundary grooving typically occurring in RABiT-type substrates. Further, it is shown that, notwithstanding the microstructure of the metal substrate continues to evolve during the conversion heat treatment, the obtained LZO film is well adherent, without cracks or delamination.