Magnetic and structural characterization of inkjet-printed TFAYBa2Cu3O7−x/MODCZO/ABADYSZ/SS coated conductors

E. Bartolome, R. Vlad, A. Calleja, M. Aklalouch, R. Guzman, J Arbiol, X. Granados, A. Palau, X. Obradors, T. Puig and A. Usokin Superconductor Science and Technology 26, 125004 (2013) DOI:10.1088/0953-2048/26/12/125004 The superconductor industry is demanding new methodologies to manufacture km-long, high quality coated conductors at high growth rates, using cost-effective, scalable processes. We report on the fabrication by an all-chemical deposition method of highly textured, thick (0.9 μm) inkjet-printed YBCO films, using a Ce_0.9Zr_0.1O₂ (CZO) capping layer deposited by MOD, on top of robust, buffered ^ABADYSZ/SS substrates. Thinner, 0.25 μm spin-coated YBCO films were also analyzed for comparison. The structural study performed by x-ray diffraction, optical, AFM, SEM and TEM microscopy demonstrates the success of the capping layer for enhancing the planarity of the as-received tape and obtaining highly homogeneous and well-textured YBCO films. DC magnetometry granularity analysis was used to determine the mean superconducting grain diameter, ~2.5 μm, and the intra- and intergranular critical current densities of the coated conductors (CCs). For the thin, spin-coated sample, high self-field intragrain critical currents were measured (, 3.3 MA cm⁻² at 5, 77 K). For the thick, inkjet-printed tape was reduced by ~30%, but, notably, the percolative critical current, , was only ~10% smaller at 5 K, thanks to good preservation of the texture. At 77 K, was achieved, implying a critical current of I_c = 117 A/cm-width. AC susceptibility measurements allowed us to demonstrate the high homogeneity of the fabricated CCs, and investigate the magnetic vortex-pinning phase diagram. Remarkably, the thick, inkjet-printed sample showed comparable irreversibility line (IL) and activation energy for thermal depinning, U_e(H), to the thin sample. The present results open new perspectives for the fabrication of high quality-to-cost ratio, all-chemical CCs with yet higher I_c values by inkjet printing multideposition of thicker YBCO layers.