High J_c YBCO films on biaxially textured Ni with oxide buffer layers deposited using electron beam evaporation and sputtering

Epitaxial buffer layers of CeO₂ and yttria-stabilized ZrO₂ (YSZ) have been deposited on biaxially textured nickel using conventional electron beam evaporation and r-f sputtering. Epitaxial films of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) have been then grown on these buffered substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Despite intermittent exposure of the buffered substrates to 1 atm air, the resulting YBCO conductors exhibited transport critical current densities (J_c) of 0.8 MA/cm² at 77.3 K and H = 0 T. The dependence of J_c of these conductors on temperature and magnetic field is similar to that of conductors prepared solely by in situ PLD. These results suggest that it may be possible to use more flexible and easily scalable fabrication methods for preparing long YBCO conductors.