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.

1 - 18 . (canceled) 
   
   
       19 . An article comprising:
 a flexible polycrystalline metal substrate;   an amorphous oxide layer of erbium oxide upon the surface of the substrate; and,   a layer of an oriented cubic oxide material having a rock-salt-like structure upon the amorphous erbium oxide 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 . (canceled) 
   
   
       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 . (canceled) 
   
   
       31 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the oriented cubic oxide material layer is magnesium oxide. 
   
   
       32 - 40 . (canceled) 
   
   
       41 . A thin film template structure for subsequent epitaxial thin film deposition comprising:
 a polycrystalline flexible metal substrate; and,   an amorphous oxide layer of erbium oxide upon the surface of the polycrystalline flexible metal substrate.   
   
   
       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 - 44 . (canceled)