Fabrication and characterization of screen-printed Nd-Ba-Cu-O thick films

Nd-Ba-Cu-O thick films were fabricated onto (100) YSZ substrates by screen printing method. Two kinds of powders with different nominal compositions were used to form the ink for printing. In order to supress film-substrate interaction, the printed films were fired at relatively low temperature of T-s = 990 degreesC in various kinds of gases; Ar, Ar+0.1%O-2, Ar+3%O-2 and N-2. After being fired at T-s for 5 min, the films were cooled from T-s to 500 degreesC by two steps. The superconducting properties of the films were found to strongly depend on the preprocessed powder for ink, the kind of flowing gas and the cooling conditions. The film, which was cooled rapidly from T-s to 890 degreesC at a rate of 400 degreesC/h and then cooled to 500 degrees Cat a rate of 50 degreesC/h in Ar+0.1% O-2, showed relatively a high J(c) value of about 500 A . cm(-2) (77 K, 0 T).