Effect of Deposition Temperature on the Epitaxial Growth of YBCO Thin Films on RABiTS Substrates by Pulsed Laser Deposition Method

Epitaxial YBCO thin films were grown on CeO₂/YSZ/CeO₂ buffered RABiTS substrates by PLD method and the effects of deposition temperature on their microstructure and the critical current were studied. YBCO thin films were prepared with substrate temperature from 700 to 820??C. The YBCO grown at below 740??C showed mixed a-axis and c-axis orientation, and the film grown at higher temperature showed high c-axis orientation. The (001) preferred orientation of the YBCO films was improved with increasing the temperature. While the critical current of the YBCO thin film increased firstly with increasing substrate temperature and had a maximum value at 770??C. The Ic of the YBCO film with 0.2 ??m thickness was 66 A (Jc = 3.3 MA/cm²) at 77 K and 0 T external field.