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Critical current density and microstructure variations in YBa2Cu3O7−x + BaSnO3 films with different concentrations of BaSnO3

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Abstract

Previous work on YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) + BaSnO3 (BSO) films with a single composition showed significant critical current density (Jc) improvements at higher fields but lowered Jc in low fields. A detailed study on BSO concentrations provided here demonstrates that significant Jc enhancement can occur even up to 20 mol% BSO inclusion, where typical particulate inclusions in these concentrations degrade the YBCO performance. YBCO + BSO films were processed on (100) LaAlO3 substrates using premixed targets of YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) with additions of 2, 4, 10, and 20 mol% BSO. The critical transition temperature Tc of the films remained high (>87 K), even with large amounts (20 mol%) of BSO. YBCO + BSO films showed a gradual increase in Jc at high fields as the amount of BSO was increased. More than an order of magnitude increase in Jc was measured in YBCO + BSO samples as compared to regular YBCO at 4 T. YBCO + 10 mol% BSO films showed overall improvement at all the field ranges while YBCO + 20 mol% BSO was better only at high fields. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the presence of ∼7–8-nm-diameter BSO nanocolumns, the density of which increased with increasing BSO content correlating well with the observed improvements in Jc.

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Acknowledgments

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Propulsion Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory supported this work. The TEM effort is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research program (Contract No. FA9550-07-01-0108). The authors also wish to thank Iman Maartense for the Tc measurements and Jose Rodriguez for estimating the α values.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 45469-0170, USA

    C.V. Varanasi, J. Burke & L. Brunke

  2. Air Force Research Laboratories, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, 45433, USA

    C.V. Varanasi & P.N. Barnes

  3. Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, 77843-3128, USA

    H. Wang & J.H. Lee

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  1. C.V. Varanasi
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  2. J. Burke
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  3. L. Brunke
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  4. H. Wang
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  5. J.H. Lee
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  6. P.N. Barnes
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Correspondence to C.V. Varanasi.

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Varanasi, C., Burke, J., Brunke, L. et al. Critical current density and microstructure variations in YBa2Cu3O7−x + BaSnO3 films with different concentrations of BaSnO3. Journal of Materials Research 23, 3363–3369 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0412

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2008.0412

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