Fabrication and properties of textured YBa2Cu3O7 thick films on polycrystalline Ag0.9Pd0.1 and silver substrates

Highly textured (c axis perpendicular to the plane of the substrate tape) thick films of YBa2Cu3O7 grown on Ag0.9Pd0.1 and pure silver substrates have been made by a traveling heated zone method. The speed of the traveling zone can be as fast as ∼5 cm/h and the temperatures of the zone, 930–975 °C, were well below the peritectic temperature of YBa2Cu3O7. A precursor layer, which consisted of a nitrate solution of yttrium, barium, and copper cations, was deposited by spray pyrolysis directly onto a heated substrate. The values of the resistively measured Tc were 83–91 K. The transport critical current density of these thick films was in the range of 2–8×103 A/cm2 at 77 K and 0 T.