Effect of substrate surface modification using Ag nano-dots on the improvement of Jc and microstructures in YBa2Cu3O7 thin films grown on LaAIO3 (100) by pulsed laser deposition

Authors

Aihua Li, University of WollongongFollow
Xiaolin Wang, University of WollongongFollow
Hua-Kun Liu, University of WollongongFollow
Mihail Ionescu, University of WollongongFollow
S X. Dou, University of WollongongFollow
P Xuan, Ohio State University, USA
Edward W. Collings, Ohio State University, USAFollow

RIS ID

17989

Publication Details

Li, A, Wang, X, Liu, HK, Ionescu, M, Dou, SX, Xuan, P & Collings, E (2006), Effect of substrate surface modification using Ag nano-dots on the improvement of Jc and microstructures in YBa2Cu3O7 thin films grown on LaAIO3 (100) by pulsed laser deposition, Journal of Electroceramics, 16(4), pp. 605-609.

Abstract

YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (Y123) thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on LaAlO₃ (100) substrates whose surfaces were modified by a discontinuously layer of Ag nano-dots. The Y123 films were characterised by atomic force microscope, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and DC magnetization measurements. Effect of substrate surface modification using various densities of the Ag nano-dots on the improvements of critical current density J_c and microstructures in the Y123 films has been studied systematically. The results showed that at fixed physical deposition conditions J_c increased with the number of Ag shots, n. Zero field J_c at 77 K increased from 10⁶ to 3.3 × 10⁶ A/cm², and from 1.5 × 10⁷up to 4 × 10⁷A/cm² for 5 K as the number of Ag shots increased from zero to 150. However, a fluctuation of J_c was observed for n < 60 at 77 and 40 K in both low and high fields. Detailed microstructure analysis revealed that ab misalignment was gradually improved as Ag nano-dots density gradually increased and believed to be responsible for the J_c enhancement.