Epitaxial Growth of Solution-Based Rare-Earth Niobate, RE3NbO7, Films on Biaxially Textured Ni–W Substrates

Abstract

A new series of rare earth-niobate, RE3NbO7 (RE=Y,Gd,Eu), buffer layers were developed for the growth of superconducting YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) films on biaxially textured Ni–W (3 at.%) substrates. Using chemical solution deposition, smooth, crack-free, and epitaxial RE3NbO7 (RE = Y,Gd,Eu) films were grown on cube-textured Ni–W substrate. YBCO film with a critical current density of 1.1 × 106 A/cm2 in self-field at 77 K was grown directly on a single Gd3NbO7-buffered Ni–W substrate using pulsed laser deposition.