Development of MOCVD Technology for Integrated YBCO Layer/Buffer Layer Fabrication for Coated Conductors

Chemical deposition of all buffer and YBCO layers is recognized as the most economical approach to coated conductor manufacturing. Metal Oxide Technologies Inc. (MetOx) has been developing a cost-effective technology to deposit all buffer and superconducting layers by MOCVD. High I
_c
= 201 A/cm and J
_c
= 1.53 MA/cm
²
values are obtained on ORNL RABiTS buffers. The best superconducting properties of MetOx YBCO films of J
_c
= 3.34 MA/cm
²
and I
_c
= 480 A/cm have been achieved on LANL IBAD buffers. MetOx MOCVD coated conductors demonstrate promising I
_c
= 137 A/cm and J
_c
= 1.10 MA/cm
²
. Good superconducting performance has been demonstrated on several 1 m long YBCO tapes. Pinning enhancement via Y
₂
O
₃
doping in YBCO has been successfully implemented. Very high MOCVD growth rates of 1.25 mum/min have been demonstrated producing well-textured superconducting YBCO films.