Liquid phase epitaxy growth of Ln-Ba-Cu-O (Ln=Yb, Er, Pr) films using BaZrO3 crucibles

Ln-Ba-Cu-O (LnBCO) (Ln=Yb, Er, and Pr) films have been grown on NdGaO3(1 1 0) by liquid phase epitaxy technique using BaZrO3 crucibles. YbBCO films have epitaxially grown at temperatures ranging from 940 to 899 deg. C. The YbBCO films grown at 940 and 899 deg. C showed c-axis and a-axis orientations, respectively. The YbBCO films annealed in oxygen showed Tc(onset) of 88-92 K. ErBCO films have grown at temperatures ranging from 999 to 938 deg. C, and showed Tc(onset) of approximately 95 K being after annealed in oxygen. For the growth of PrBCO films, BaCuO2-CuO flux with Ba/Cu ratios of 4/5, 3/5, and 3/7 was used. The PrBCO films with a-axis orientation have grown at temperatures ranging from 1011 to 974 deg. C. The annealed PrBCO films showed semiconducting behavior on R-T curves, and no superconducting transition over 77 K. The contamination of impurities to the films from the BaZrO3 crucible was not observed by EPMA analysis