Formation of strongly biaxial-textured Ni Layer for YBCO coated conductor by electrodeposition process

A new method of strongly biaxial-textured Ni substrate for YBCO coated conductor has been developed by electrodeposition using cube-textured cathode such as Ni single crystal, RaBiTS-processed Ni or Ni-W tape. Electrodeposited Ni layers using Ni single crystal as a cathode were characterized with θ-scan and φ-scan methods, and it showed excellent out-of-plane (Δθ=1.6°) and in-plane alignment (Δφ=3.6°). In addition, electrodeposited Ni layers using RaBiTS tape as a cathode show good biaxial texture (Δθ=5.7°,Δφ=9.6°) and smooth surface. XRD characterization shows that biaxial texture of cathode was transferred to electrodeposit and texture of electrodeposited Ni layers changes with deposition time. Finally, a CeO₂ buffer layer has been deposited by MOD process to show the compatibility of substrate with further buffer layer processing. Our modified electrodeposition process shows good possibility of providing a simple and effective way to high quality cube-textured Ni substrates for YBCO coated conductor.