Authors: Albert Queraltó, Max Sieger, Kapil Gupta, Alexander Meledin, Pedro Barusco, Lavinia Saltarelli, Mariona de Palau, Xavier Granados, Xavier Obradors and Teresa Puig

Supercond. Sci. Technol. 36 025003

Abstract: We investigated the integration of transient liquid-assisted growth (TLAG) approach for epitaxial YBa₂Cu₃O_7−x (YBCO) films by physical deposition methodologies (pulsed laser deposition (PLD)), as an additional opportunity for high-throughput growth of YBCO. As a prerequisite, highly flat and amorphous YBCO precursor films were deposited by PLD at temperatures below 400 °C on single-crystalline SrTiO₃ (STO) and LaMnO₃ (LMO)/STO, as well as industrial coated conductor architectures. Contrary to TLAG based on chemical solution deposition, where BaCO₃ elimination is a key factor for the YBCO growth, TLAG-PLD growth is controlled by the transformation of Ba–Cu–O (s) to a transient liquid. High-quality c-axis YBCO films were successfully grown on different substrates, as demonstrated by high-resolution x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. In-situ resistance measurements revealed that the growth rates around 1000 nm s⁻¹ can be achieved, outperforming the capabilities of standard PLD growth of REBa₂Cu₃O₇ films by few orders of magnitude. Experimental conditions such as temperature, oxygen partial pressure, and heating ramp, were optimized to obtain critical temperature (T_c) values up to 90 K. Critical current densities of 15 MA cm⁻² at 5 K and 1.7 MA cm⁻² at 77 K were obtained for YBCO films of 450 nm on LMO/STO.

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6668/acaad3