Biaxially oriented metallic tape substrates for high-temperature superconductors

We report a practical synthesis route for the production of long length, biaxially-oriented high-temperature superconducting (HTS) deposits on metallic tapes. The technique involves epitaxial vapor deposition of appropriate oxide buffer layers on rolled, thermo-mechanically processed fcc-structure base-metal tape substrates. Short segments of ≈1 μm thick YBa2Cu3O7-δ deposits produced by pulsed laser ablation on CeO2 and yttria-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) buffered nickel exhibit epitaxial biaxial alignment and have critical current densities over 106 A/cm2 at 77 K in zero applied magnetic field.