Growth of lanthanum manganate buffer layers for coated conductors via a metal-organic decomposition process

Perovskite LaMnO/sub 3/ (LMO) in thin film embodiment has been identified as a potential candidate for use as a buffer layer in coated conductors. This paper delineates the process-properties relationships investigated for the metal-organic decomposition (MOD) growth of LMO thin films on bare cube-textured Ni-W tape sections. Epitaxial films of pseudocubic perovskite LMO were obtained for samples fired at 1100/spl deg/C in a humidified forming gas (Ar/4% H/sub 2/, P/sub H2O//spl sim/2 Torr) ambient atmosphere. The surface morphology, epitaxy, and composition of the films are reported.