Growth and properties of YBCO thin films on polycrystalline Ag substrates by inclined substrate pulsed laser deposition

Fully c-axis-oriented YBCO films were directly deposited on polycrystalline silver substrates by inclined substrate pulsed laser ablation. The orientation and microstructure of the YBCO films were characterized by x-ray diffraction 2θ-scans, Ω-scans and pole figure analysis. Surface morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy. Irregular-mosaic-shaped supergrains were observed in the films. Raman spectroscopy was used to evaluate the quality of the YBCO films. The superconducting transition temperature (Tc) and the critical current density (Jc) of the films were determined by inductive and transport measurements, respectively. Tc=91 K with sharp transition and Jc=2.7x105 A cm-2 at 77 K in zero field were obtained on a film that was 0.14 μm thick, 5 mm wide and 10 mm long. This work demonstrated a promising approach to obtain high-Jc YBCO films on nontextured polycrystalline silver substrate. (author)