YBa2Cu3O7-d coated conductor deposited onto non-magnetic ternary alloy NiCrW RABiTS tape by in situ pulsed laser deposition

Pulsed laser deposition of YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO)/buffer (Y2O3, YSZ, CeO2) heterostructures have been performed in situ onto recently developed non-magnetic oxygenation resistant NiCrW tape. The influence of the critical processing parameters on texture development are investigated and the issues involved in NiO formation and relation to the substrate surface quality are discussed. The roles of Ni poisoning YBCO as well as local cation disorder are considered as possible current limiting factors. X-ray diffraction has been used for macro-texture evaluation. Both buffers and YBCO layers show good biaxial alignment with omega; and phi scans having best YBCO FWHM values of 4.0° and 6.5° respectively. A comparison is made with results achieved on industrial Ni50Fe50 tape. The film morphology has been characterized using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The cation disorder has been studied by Raman spectroscopy. Critical temperatures of 90 K (deltaTc=5 K) have been measured. Direct transport as well as magnetic measurements shows the critical current density Jc is 0.2 MA/cm2 in self-field at liquid nitrogen temperatures.