title: Growth of Highly Epitaxial YBa2Cu3O(7-δ) Films from a Simple Propionate-Based Solution.
abstract: Intensive investigations have been conducted to develop epitaxial oxide thin films with superior electromagnetic performance by low-cost chemical solution deposition routes. In this paper, a novel propionate-based precursor solution without involving any other additive was proposed and employed to grow superconducting YBa2Cu3O(7-δ) (YBCO) films on LaAlO3 (LAO) single crystals. The precursor solutions are stable with a long shelf life of up to several months. Since the primary compositions are propionates after evaporating the solvent, the toxic reagents and evolved gases during solution synthesis and heat treatment can be eliminated completely. In this process, rapid pyrolysis and high conversation rate can also be achieved during growth of YBCO films in comparison with the conventional trifluoroacetate metal organic deposition routes. Remarkably, a 210 nm YBCO film exhibits high superconducting performance with a Jc value of 3.7 MA/cm(2) at 77 K, self-field. Nucleation and growth behaviors in the chemical solution process have also been studied. It is revealed that the amount of liquid phase (Ba-Cu-O) is sufficient through the entire thickness within a very short time at high growth temperatures, which results in pronounced densification and fast conversion of the YBCO phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark , Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.|Department of Electrical Engineering, Shanghai JiaoTong University , 200240 Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark , Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.|Departament de Fı́sica, Universit at Autònoma de Barcelona , Bellaterra 08193, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Pol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.affiliation: Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Hamburg , Grindelallee 117, Hamburg 20146, Germany.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark , Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Poul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Norby
authors.affiliation: Department of Energy Conversion and Storage, Technical University of Denmark , Frederiksborgvej 399, Roskilde 4000, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Grivel