Origin of Surface Morphology Variation During Pulsed Laser Deposition of Superconducting Films

The dependence of properties in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (YBCO) films grown by pulsed laser deposition at different distances from the target to a substrate has been systematically studied. The target to substrate distance D TS is shown to enable simple means for tunability of the critical current density and microstructure of the YBCO films. The variation of structural and electromagnetic properties in the films as a function of D TS has been explained in terms of laser plume propagation model and thin film formation mechanism.