Controlled Growth of High-Temperature Superconducting Thin Films on Polycrystalline Substrates

Abstract

Since their discovery in 1987, significant progress has been made in the fabrication of high-quality, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) thin films. Films with reproducible properties can be routinely deposited on single crystal substrates by several well-established processing techniques. Single crystal substrates, however, are not suitable for many applications because of their cost, limitations in size and shape, and lack of flexibility. Hence, a great deal of effort has been directed at the fabrication of thin films on polycrystalline rather than single crystal substrates. For example, metallic substrates are expected to be useful for the fabrication of HTS conductors for such applications as generators, motors, and superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) devices. For polycrystalline thin-film applications, lattice matching for epitaxial growth of thin films is no longer possible. Microstructures of these films are generally more complex than those of single crystal films, primarily because of grain boundaries. As a result, the microstructure of polycrystalline films must be carefully controlled to ensure that the critical current density is high enough for practical applications.Happily, progress in this respect has been substantial. There have been laboratory demonstrations of techniques for controlled processing of high-quality HTS thin films on polycrystalline substrates. Even though the technology development in this area is still in its infancy, many successful processing approaches have been developed to set the stage for the eventual use of HTS thin films in power device applications.