Influence of substrate temperature on the orientation of YBa2Cu3O7 films

The structural characteristics of YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) thin films were investigated by x‐ray diffractometry. Films with good preferred orientation (001) and high Tc0 (86–90 K) can be prepared in situ using the dc magnetron sputtering method. For the films prepared on the ZrO2 (stabilized with Y2O3) substrate at a substrate temperature (Ts) less than 700 °C, there are different orientations and the degree of random orientation will decrease with increasing Ts. YBCO films with (001) can be obtained on ZrO2 with different crystal planes, such as (100), (110), and (111) at suitable temperature (760–850 °C). From the results it could be concluded that the YBCO film growth with c‐axis orientation mainly depends on the substrate temperature Ts.