YBCO thin films prepared by fluorine-reduced metal-organic deposition using trifluoroacetates

Solution deposition is a promising method for YBCO coated conductor fabrication. We developed a new fluorine-reduced 'metal-organic deposition using trifluoroacetates' (TFA-MOD) method with copper acetate as one of the starting materials. Using the fluorine-reduced TFA-MOD method, we were able to get high performance YBCO films with good out-of-plane and in-plane orientations within a shortened calcining time, which was reduced by at least 4 h in comparison with that for the normal TFA-MOD process. Good superconducting properties, with Jc of 2 MA cm-2 at 77 K and Tc of 88.3 K (ΔTc = 0.9 K), have been obtained for 350 nm epitaxial YBCO thin films on LaAlO3 single-crystal substrates. Owing to the low price of copper acetate and the shorter calcining time, fluorine-reduced TFA-MOD is a very effective and cost-cutting process. (rapid communication)