In situ high rate growth of high temperature superconductor tapes

In situ high rate growth of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// superconducting films has been carried out using e-beam deposition. A deposition flux controller was developed to monitor and control the deposition rates using tunable diode, laser-based, atomic absorption. A wide range of temperatures, deposition rates, and oxygen fluxes including atomic, molecular oxygen, have been explored in order to understand both kinetic and thermodynamic stability. Critical current density above 1 MA/cm/sup 2/ has been achieved on SrTiO/sub 3/ substrate samples with growth rates up to 75 /spl Aring//sec. Samples prepared on IBAD YSZ/Ni tapes exhibit similar resistivity properties and x-ray diffraction patterns. However, critical current densities of the tapes are around 5 kA/cm/sup 2/ or lower. The poor critical current density of the tape is attributed to interactions between the YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// film and the YSZ buffer layer.