Preparation of c-axis fibre textured YNi/sub 2/B/sub 2/C thin films by pulsed laser deposition: Film structure and superconducting properties

Thin films of YNi/sub 2/B/sub 2/C have been prepared in situ by pulsed laser deposition onto MgO(100) substrates. The films exhibit c-axis fibre texture but without in-plane texture. The superconducting transition temperature T/sub c/ increases with increasing deposition temperature up to 14.7 K at a deposition temperature of 735/spl deg/C. We observed high values of the upper critical field H/sub c2/ in thin films of about 7 T at 3 K and the expected temperature dependence of H/sub c2/. An anisotropic behavior of H/sub c2/ was measured for the different temperatures 2 K, 6 K and 10 K. The critical current density j/sub c/ shows different dependencies in applied magnetic fields H/spl par/c and H/spl perp/c at 3 K.