Development of single solution buffer layers on textured Ni substrate for HTS coated conductors

Much effort has recently been made to develop chemical methods for the manufacturing of coated conductors because of their scalability, low cost and high deposition rate. In this research, epitaxial buffer layers of Gd₂Zr₂O₇ (GZO) have been grown on Ni substrates using a newly developed metal organic decomposition (MOD) approach. The solution prepared from metal-organic precursors was deposited on Ni substrates using the dip coating technique and then was annealed at a high temperature. Texture analysis shows full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) values for out-of-plane and in-plane alignments as 6.5° and 8.1°, respectively. Pole figure studies indicate a single cube-on-cube texture while SEM micrographs reveal a dense, continuous, and crack-free buffer layer. MOCVD was used to grow 1 μm YBCO film on this GZO buffered Ni substrate. A critical current, J_c, of about 1.3 MA/cm² at 77 K and self-field was obtained on YBCO (MOCVD)/GZO(MOD)/Ni. These results give promise to using a single buffer layer for scalable coated conductors.