High temperature superconducting thick films

Abstract

An article including a substrate, a layer of an inert oxide material upon the surface of the substrate, (generally the inert oxide material layer has a smooth surface, i.e., a RMS roughness of less than about 2 nm), a layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material upon the inert oxide material layer, a layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure upon the amorphous oxide material layer is provided together with additional layers such as at least one layer of a buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer or a HTS top-layer of YBCO directly upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer. With a HTS top-layer of YBCO upon at least one layer of a buffer material in such an article, J c 's of 1.4×10 6 A/cm 2 have been demonstrated with projected I c 's of 210 Amperes across a sample 1 cm wide.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An article comprising: 
 a substrate;    a layer of an inert oxide material upon the surface of the substrate;    a layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material upon the inert oxide material layer; and,    a layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure upon the amorphous oxide or oxynitride material layer.    
     
     
         2 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the inert oxide material layer is characterized as having a RMS roughness of less than about 2 nm.  
     
     
         3 . The article of  claim 1  further including at least one layer of a buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         4 . The article of  claim 1  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the substrate is a flexible polycrystalline metal.  
     
     
         6 . The article of  claim 3  wherein the at least one layer of a buffer material includes a layer of a first buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer and a layer of a second buffer material upon the first buffer material layer.  
     
     
         7 . The article of  claim 3  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the at least one layer of a buffer material.  
     
     
         8 . The article of  claim 6  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the second buffer material layer.  
     
     
         9 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure is deposited by ion beam assisted deposition.  
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 9  further including at least one layer of a buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 10  further including a layer of homoepitaxial oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure between the ion beam assisted deposited cubic oxide material layer and the buffer material layer.  
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 11  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the at least one layer of a buffer material.  
     
     
         13 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the inert oxide material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, erbium oxide, and yttrium oxide.  
     
     
         14 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the amorphous oxide or oxynitride material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of yttrium oxide, aluminum oxynitride, erbium oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia, cerium oxide and europium oxide.  
     
     
         15 . The article of  claim 1  wherein the oriented cubic oxide material layer is magnesium oxide.  
     
     
         16 . The article of  claim 6  wherein the first buffer material layer is yttria-stabilized zirconia.  
     
     
         17 . The article of  claim 3  wherein the at least one layer of a buffer material is strontium titanate.  
     
     
         18 . The article of  claim 6  wherein second buffer material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of cerium oxide, yttrium oxide, europium copper oxide, neodymium copper oxide, yttrium copper oxide, other rare earth oxides and other rare earth copper oxides.  
     
     
         19 . An article comprising: 
 a substrate;    a layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material upon the surface of the substrate; and,    a layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure upon the amorphous oxide or oxynitride material layer.    
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material is characterized as having a RMS roughness of less than about 2 nm.  
     
     
         21 . The article of  claim 19  further including at least one layer of a buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         22 . The article of  claim 19  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         23 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the substrate is a flexible polycrystalline metal.  
     
     
         24 . The article of  claim 21  wherein the at least one layer of a buffer material includes a layer of a first buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer and a layer of a second buffer material upon the first buffer material layer.  
     
     
         25 . The article of  claim 24  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the at least one layer of a buffer material.  
     
     
         26 . The article of  claim 24  further including a top-layer of YBCO upon the second buffer material layer.  
     
     
         27 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure is deposited by ion beam assisted deposition.  
     
     
         28 . The article of  claim 27  further including at least one layer of a buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         29 . The article of  claim 28  further including a layer of homoepitaxial oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure between the ion beam assisted deposited cubic oxide material layer and the buffer material layer.  
     
     
         30 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the amorphous oxide material layer is erbium oxide.  
     
     
         31 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the oriented cubic oxide material layer is magnesium oxide.  
     
     
         32 . A thin film template structure for subsequent epitaxial thin film deposition comprising: 
 a polycrystalline flexible metal substrate;    a layer of an inert oxide material upon the surface of the polycrystalline flexible metal substrate;    a layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material upon the inert oxide material layer; and,    a layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure upon the amorphous oxide or oxynitride material layer.    
     
     
         33 . The thin film template structure of  claim 32  wherein the inert oxide material layer is characterized as having a RMS roughness of less than about 2 nm.  
     
     
         34 . The thin film template structure of  claim 32  wherein the inert oxide material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, and erbium oxide.  
     
     
         35 . The thin film template structure of  claim 32  wherein the amorphous oxide material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of yttrium oxide, aluminum oxynitride, erbium oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia, cerium oxide and europium oxide.  
     
     
         36 . The thin film template structure of  claim 32  wherein the oriented cubic oxide material layer is magnesium oxide.  
     
     
         37 . The thin film template structure of  claim 32  further including a layer of a first buffer material upon the oriented cubic oxide material layer.  
     
     
         38 . The thin film template structure of  claim 37  wherein the buffer layer is a material selected from the group consisting of yttria-stabilized zirconia and strontium titanate.  
     
     
         39 . The thin film template structure of  claim 37  further including a layer of a second buffer material upon the layer of a first buffer material.  
     
     
         40 . The thin film template structure of  claim 39  wherein the second buffer layer is a material selected from the group consisting of cerium oxide, yttrium oxide, europium copper oxide, neodymium copper oxide, yttrium copper oxide, other rare earth copper oxides and other rare earth oxides.  
     
     
         41 . A thin film template structure for subsequent epitaxial thin film deposition comprising: 
 a polycrystalline flexible metal substrate;    a layer of an inert oxide material upon the surface of the polycrystalline flexible metal substrate; and,    a layer of an amorphous oxide or oxynitride material upon the inert oxide material layer.    
     
     
         42 . The thin film template structure of  claim 41  wherein the inert oxide material layer is characterized as having a RMS roughness of less than about 2 nm.  
     
     
         43 . The thin film template structure of  claim 41  wherein the inert oxide material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of aluminum oxide, yttrium oxide, and erbium oxide.  
     
     
         44 . The thin film template structure of  claim 41  wherein the amorphous oxide material layer is a material selected from the group consisting of yttrium oxide, aluminum oxynitride, erbium oxide, yttria-stabilized zirconia, cerium oxide and europium oxide.