Effect of CdTe Addition on the Electrical Properties and AC Susceptibility of YBa2Cu3O7-δ Superconductor

The effect of CdTe addition on YBa2Cu3O7-delta (CdTe) (x) (x = 0-0.10) has been studied. XRD patterns showed the presence of impurities including CdTe for x >= 0.05 wt%. The resistance versus temperature curves showed metallic behavior for all samples. The onset temperature T (c onset) for all samples is between 90 and 92 K. The superconducting transition width, Delta T (c) = 4 K for all samples except for x = 0.1 wt% where Delta T (c) = 6 K. The superconducting transition determined by AC susceptibility measurement also showed little change in (between 89 and 92 K). However, the peak temperature T (p) of the imaginary part of the susceptibility chi aEuro(3), showed a drastic decrease for samples with x > 0.05 wt%. This indicated that the superconducting grains were strongly decoupled for x > 0.05 wt% due to the impurities as observed in the XRD pattern. The intergrain critical current density, J (c) at T (p) for the x = 0 sample is J (c) (82 K) = 17 A cm(-2). These results can be useful in the fabrication of semiconductor/YBCO superconductor hybrid systems.