Partial oxygen pressure effects on the morphology of Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films in laser deposition process

The characterization of Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films prepared by 193-nm-ArF laser deposition at partial oxygen pressures ranging wide from 0.01 mTorr to 5 Torr has been investigated. These films have been grown on (100) SrTiO3 substrates held at 700 °C. Surface morphology, superconducting transition temperature and crystalline orientation strongly depend on a partial oxygen pressure during deposition. The smooth and highly crystal-oriented films with the superconducting transition temperature above 80 K and transport critical current densities of 1.0×105 A/cm2 (without magnetic field at 77 K) have been obtained at 10 to 50 mTorr of oxygen.