Growth and Characterization of La2Zr2O7 Buffer Layers Deposited by Chemical Solution Deposition.

Abstract: The deposition and characterization of La2Zr2O7 thin films deposited by metal-organic decomposition method on both single crystal SrTiO3 and cube textured Ni-5 at.%W substrates are presented. Metal acetylacetonates in propionic acid solution was used. The results showed that LZO films are epitaxially grown with smooth surface with rms roughness around 2nm. YBa2Cu3O_7-δ films, deposited by pulsed laser deposition technique on LZO buffer layers, showed critical temperature of 90K and critical current density in self magnetic field Jc = 1.6 and 13 MA/cm² at 77K and 4.2K, respectively. A better Jc retention in magnetic field for YBCO films deposited on LZO/STO than YBCO on bare STO is observed indicating a rather strong vortex pinning as confirmed by microwave measurements. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]