Preparation of YBCO films on CeO2-buffered MgO substrates by coating pyrolysis

Epitaxial CeO2 (35 nm) buffer layers were deposited on MgO(0 0 1) single crystal substrates by an electron beam gun for preparation of YBCO films by coating pyrolysis (CP). When the substrate temperature was higher than 660 °C, the CeO2 layer exhibited complete (0 0 1) orientation as judged from the <f>θ–2θ</f> X-ray diffraction pattern. Atomic force microscopic observations demonstrated that the surface of the CeO2 layer was very smooth; the average surface roughness being as small as 1 nm. Subsequently, YBCO films were prepared by the CP process using a metal acetylacetonate-based solution on the CeO2-buffered MgO substrates. Both the YBCO film and CeO2 buffer layer showed high crystallinity and fourfold symmetry in XRD <f>θ–2θ</f> and <f>φ</f>-scans, respectively. An average inductive-<f>Jc</f> value was 0.2 MA/cm2 at 77 K. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]