Abstract
Epitaxial films of rare-earth (RE = La, Ce, Eu, and Gd) tantalates, RE3TaO7 with pyrochlore structures were grown on biaxially textured nickel-3 at.% tungsten (Ni-W) substrates using chemical solution deposition (CSD) process. Precursor solution of 0.3∼0.4 M concentration of total cations were spin coated on to short samples of Ni-W substrates and the films were crystallized at 1050∼1100 °C in a gas mixture of Ar- 4% H2 for 15 to 60 min. X-ray studies show that the films of pyrochlore RE tantalate films are highly textured with cube-on-cube epitaxy. Improved texture was observed in case of lanthanum tantalate (La3TaO7) film grown on Ni-W substrates. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations of RE3TaO7 films reveal a fairly dense and smooth microstructure without cracks and porosity. The rare-earth tantalate layers may be potentially used as buffer layers for YBa2CU3O7-δ (YBCO) coated conductors.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 767-773 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Materials Research |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2006 |
Funding
This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences, Office of Science, Office of Electric Transmission and Distribution. This research was performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by U.T.-Battelle, LLC for the USDOE under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725.