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Title: Solution deposition approach to high Jc coated conductor fabrication

Journal Article · · IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Great strides have been made in YBCO coated conductor fabrication using the RABiTS approach in the past few years and critical current densities (J{sub c}) of over 3 MA/cm{sup 2} on 10 meter long tapes have been achieved. Solution deposition for buffer layer processing has the potential to reduce the process complexity and make the conductor fabrication more cost-effective. In our work, we have demonstrated that several of the standard buffer layers can be replaced by sol-gel processed lanthanum zirconium oxide (LZO) layer. A J{sub c} of about 2 MA/cm{sup 2} has been demonstrated on LZO films for pulsed laser deposited YBCO and J{sub c} up to 1.5 MA/cm{sup 2} have been demonstrated for MOD-YBCO using a sputtered CeO{sub 2} cap layer on the sol-gel LZO films. Solution processed buffer layers have been found to have rapid growth kinetics which could potentially mean high rate processing of these buffer layers. Using simulated ex-situ YBCO annealing studies, it has been determined that the performance of 80-120 nm thick LZO films is comparable to the standard 3-layer vapor deposited CeO{sub 2}/YSZ/Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} buffer stack. Using a 120 nm thick LZO layers on NiW substrates, in collaboration with American Superconductor Corp., all-solution coated conductors with the stacking sequence MOD-YBCO/Solution CeO{sub 2}/Solution LZO/NiW, critical currents of up to 140 A/cm has been measured. Such high critical currents on an all-solution conductor offers promise for cost-effective scale-up of coated conductor processing.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
OE USDOE - Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1003278
Journal Information:
IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, Vol. 15, Issue 2; ISSN 1051--8223
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English