Superconducting YBa₂Cu₃O_7-xthin films prepared by DC plasma chemical vapour deposition

Abstract

YBa2Cu3O7-x superconducting thin films were grown on polycrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia (p-YSZ) and single-crystalline SrTiO3 substrates by DC plasma-assisted metallorganic chemical vapour deposition. A DC plasma was generated in the reaction chamber by applying a DC potential of 200 V at a plasma current of 2 mA. The as-deposited films on an SrTiO3 substrate at a temperature of 730 degrees C show a sharp resistive transition of Tc,zero=88 K. We show that DC plasma-assisted metallorganic chemical vapour deposition is useful to obtain YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films with the c axis normal to the p-YSZ and SrTiO3 substrates.