Electro-epitaxial buffer layers for REBCO tape architectures

The preparation of substrates for the deposition of highly aligned superconducting thin films is an area of active research for the fabrication of second generation HTS conductors, and it is especially important that the substrates are cheap and can easily and reliably be prepared in long lengths. We have developed a new technique for the preparation of epitaxial buffer layers by simple electrodeposition onto mechanically textured substrates. Ag/Ni, Ag/NiFe and Ag/Pd/NiFe samples have been fabricated with very high degrees of texture control, and highly aligned NdBa₂Cu₃O₇ and YBa₂Cu₃O₇ films have been deposited onto these substrates. We believe that this process offers substantial advantages in scalability, speed and cost-effectiveness over all other techniques currently being investigated for the preparation of technical substrates for second generation HTS conductors.