c-Axis Orientation Control of YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x Films Grown on Inclined-Substrate-Deposited MgO-Buffered Metallic Substrates

Meiya Li,^a B. Ma,^b R. E. Koritala,^b B. L. Fisher,^b Xingzhong Zhao,^a V. A. Maroni,^c S. E. Dorris,^b and U. Balachandran^b

^aDepartment of Physics, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R., China ^bEnergy Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA ^cChemical Technology Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA

Biaxially textured YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x (YBCO) films were grown on non-textured metal substrates with inclined-substrate-deposited (ISD) MgO as template. The biaxial texture feature of the films was examined by X-ray pole-figure analysis, phi-scan, and 2θ-scan. A tilt angle of 32° of the MgO[001] with respect to the substrate normal was observed. Epitaxial growth of YBCO films with c-axis tilt angle of 32° with respect to the substrate normal was obtained on these substrates with SrTiO₃(STO) as buffer layer. Whereas, by choosing yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ and CeO₂ instead of STO as buffer layer, a c-axis untilted YBCO film was obtained. Higher values of T_c=91 K and J_c=5.5×10⁵ A/cm² were obtained on the c-axis untilted YBCO films with 0.46 μm thickness at 77 K in zero field. Comparative studies revealed a unique role of CeO₂ in controlling the orientation of the YBCO films grown on ISD-MgO buffered metal substrates.

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