Effect of substrate texture on superconducting properties of YBCO thick films

Abstract

On nontextured substrates, YBCO superconducting thick films were fabricated using a simple screen-printing method, from Cu-free powders (Y 2O3 and BaCO3). However, the films have poor superconducting properties, such as the critical current density, Jc value due to the random orientation of the films. In this work, we investigate the influence of substrate texture on superconducting properties of the film. The films screen-printed on the nontextured and textured Cu substrates were heat-treated by 2-step procedure in air (980°C 10 sec + 930°C 90 sec) followed by oxygen annealing at 450°C for 1 hr. We speculate that Cu ions diffusion from the textured Cu substrates is still faster than Cu ions diffusion from the nontextured Cu substrates that CuO formed excessively in the film deteriorates superconducting properties of the YBCO film.