Growth kinetics of Cu1-xTlxBa2Ca3Cu4O12-y thin films

Cu1-xTIxBa2Ca3Cu4O12-y (Cu1-xTlx-1234) thin films have been found to be very attractive candidates in the cuprate family due to their low superconductor anisotropy, long coherence length and, consequently, high J(c). The method of preparation has been reported previously, however the kinetics of their formation has not yet been studied. In this paper, we report on the growth kinetics of superconducting Cu1-xTlxBa2Ca3Cu4O12-y thin films. In the preparation, we use the amorphous phase epitaxy method, which is a thallium treatment of the amorphous phase at elevated temperatures. The amorphous phase was deposited on a SrTiO3 substrate by rf-sputtering from a stoichiometric target with a composition of CuBa2Ca3Cu4Oy. The thallium treatment of the amorphous phase was carried out in a gold capsule for 45 min. The mechanism of the growth kinetics has shown that the formation of Cu1-xTlxBa2Ca3Cu4O12-y thin films was accomplished from Cu1-xTlxBa2Ca1Cu2O8-y (Cu1-xTlx-1212) and Cu1-xTlxBa2Ca2Cu3O10-y (Cu1-xTlx-1223) by the successive introduction of CuO2 planes in these phases. We also studied the effect of the time and temperature of the thallium treatment on the growth of Cu1-xTlx-1234 films. The best synthesis temperature for Cu1-xTlx-1234 films was found to be 910 degreesC, but this phase could also be isolated as a single phase at lower temperatures (similar to890 degreesC). However, the low-temperature synthesis results in a higher thallium content in the final compound. From the x-ray diffraction measurements the c-axis length was found to increase with the increase of the thallium content. The pole figure measurements of the (103) reflection of the films have shown a-axis oriented crystals with Deltaphi = 0.8degrees. The observed critical temperature (T-c) for Cu1-xTlx-1212, Cu1-xTlx-1223 and Cu1-xTlx-1234 are 78 K, 103 K and 110 K respectively. Current density measurements have shown a maximum J(c) similar to 2 x 10(6) A cm(-2).