TEM investigation of growth mechanisms and microstructure of model YBCO coated conductor architectures deposited by metalorganic decomposition

This thesis is divided in six chapters. In the first one, we expose an amenable brief introduction to the YBCO compound, as well as to the CSD method. Then, in the second chapter we describe briefly the experimental techniques used for the physical characterization of the CSD thin films presented in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Gázquez Alabart, Jaume|||0000-0002-2561-328X
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Fecha de publicación:2008
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:36668
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/36668
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Òxid de coure, bari i itri (YBa2Cu3O7)
Superconductors d'alta temperatura
Pel·lícules fines
Microscòpia electrònica de transmissió
Descripción
Sumario:This thesis is divided in six chapters. In the first one, we expose an amenable brief introduction to the YBCO compound, as well as to the CSD method. Then, in the second chapter we describe briefly the experimental techniques used for the physical characterization of the CSD thin films presented in this work. The results, chapters 3, 4 , 5 and 6, are presented in two parts: Part I reports many aspects governing the growth mechanisms of CSD films, in particular the identification of those factors controlling the evolution of microstructures, which remain poorly established in comparison with vacuum deposited films. We give first an account of the evolution from a partially oriented granular microstructure to a dense epitaxial one in CeO2 films deposited from chemical solutions (chapter 3), and second the microstructural evolution of YBCO from trifluoroacetate precursors, which follow a complex compositional trajectory (chapter 4). In part II the microstructure of TFA-YBCO thin films with high critical current densities is analysed. We depict intrinsic structural defects occurring within YBCO films, focusing in extended defects which can lead to strong flux-pinning and high critical current density (chapter 5). The microstructure of TFA-YBCO films with artificial defects has been also studied (chapter 6). The inclusion of BaZrO3 results in strong increase of the critical current density, demonstrating that chemical solution growth is a very flexible methodology to nanostructure YBCO films and coated conductors. Finally, we present the general conclusions of this study.