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Superconductor Science and Technology Volume 26 Number 12, 2014.
E Bartolomé1, V R Vlad2, A Calleja2,3, M Aklalouch2, R Guzmán3, J Arbiol3,4, X Granados3, A Palau3, X Obradors3, T Puig3 and A Usoskin5
1 Escola Universitària Salesiana de Sarrià, Passeig Sant Joan Bosco, 74, E-08017, Barcelona, Spain and
2 Oxolutia SL, Edifici Eureka, Parc de Recerca UAB, Campus de la UAB, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain and
3 Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain and
4 Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), E-08010 Barcelona, Spain and
5 Bruker HTS GmbH, Siemensstraße 88, D-63755 Alzenau, Germany.
Abstract
The superconductor industry is demanding new methodologies to manufacture km-long, high quality coated conductors at high growth rates, using cost-effective, scalable processes. We report on the fabrication by an all-chemical deposition method of highly textured, thick (0.9 um) inkjet-printed YBCO films, using a Ce0.9Zr0.1O2 (CZO) capping layer deposited by MOD, on top of robust, buffered ABADYSZ/SS substrates. Thinner, 0.25 um spin-coated YBCO films were also analyzed for comparison. The structural study performed by x-ray diffraction, optical, AFM, SEM and TEM microscopy demonstrates the success of the capping layer for enhancing the planarity of the as-received tape and obtaining highly homogeneous and well-textured YBCO films. DC magnetometry granularity analysis was used to determine the mean superconducting grain diameter, ~2.5 um, and the intra- and intergranular critical current densities of the coated conductors (CCs). For the thin, spin-coated sample, high self-field intragrain critical currents were measured (, 3.3 MA cm−2 at 5, 77 K). For the thick, inkjet-printed tape was reduced by ~30%, but, notably, the percolative critical current, , was only ~10% smaller at 5 K, thanks to good preservation of the texture. At 77 K, was achieved, implying a critical current of Ic = 117 A/cm-width. AC susceptibility measurements allowed us to demonstrate the high homogeneity of the fabricated CCs, and investigate the magnetic vortex-pinning phase diagram. Remarkably, the thick, inkjet-printed sample showed comparable irreversibility line (IL) and activation energy for thermal depinning, Ue(H), to the thin sample. The present results open new perspectives for the fabrication of high quality-to-cost ratio, all-chemical CCs with yet higher Ic values by inkjet printing multideposition of thicker YBCO layers.
Additional Information
The superconductor industry is demanding new methodologies to manufacture km-long, high-quality coated conductors at high growth rates, using cost-effective, scalable processes. We report on the fabrication by an all-chemical deposition method of highly-textured, thick (0.9 mm) ink-jet printed films YBCO films, using a Ce0.9Zr0.1O2 (CZO) capping layer deposited by MOD, on top of robust, buffered ABADYSZ/SS substrates. Highly homogeneous tapes, with percolative critical currents of JcGB=12.5 (1.3) MA/cm2 at 5 (77) K were achieved thanks to the good planarization achieved by the Ce layer. Present results open new perspectives for the fabrication of high quality-to-cost ratio, all-chemical CCs with yet higher Ic values by inkjet printing multi-deposition of thicker YBCO layers.
