Textured CeO2 thin films on nickel tape by sol-gel process

Cerium oxide (CeO2) is one of the preferred buffer layer for fabrication of coated conductors, especially when e-beam evaporation technique is used for YBCO processing. Therefore, processing of CeO2 buffer layers has been extensively studied by several vacuum deposition techniques. However, a nonvacuum process is desired for fabrication of coated conductors to make coated conductors widely available in the market. In order to develop a nonvacuum process for fabrication of coated conductors, we fabricated textured cerium oxide (CeO2) buffer layers on biaxially textured-Ni (100) substrates by sol-gel process. The solution was prepared from metal-organic precursor, Cerium 2,4-pentane-dionate, and was deposited on the Ni substrates using a reel-to-reel sol-gel dip coating system. The textured films were annealed at 1150 degreesC for 10 min under 4% H-2-Ar gas flow. Extensive texture analysis has been done to characterize the texture of CeO2 buffer layers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the buffer layer showed strong out-of-plane orientation on Ni tape. The CeO2 (111) pole figure indicated a single cube-on-cube textured structure. The omega and phi scans revealed good out-of-plane and in-plane alignments. The full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) values of omega and Phi scans of CeO2 films were 6.47degrees and 7.26degrees, respectively. ESEM micrographs of the CeO2 films revealed pinhole free, crack-free and dense microstructures.