Effects of growth temperature for superconducting properties and microstructures of PLD-ErBa2Cu3O7-δ film with BaNb2O6

we report effects of growth temperature on superconducting properties and microstructure of ErBa2Cu3O7-delta (ErBCO) films with BaNb2O6 (BNO)-doping grown by pulse laser deposition (PLD) on SrTiO3 (STO) substrates. The BNO was introduced into the ErBCO films as artificial pinning centers. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated the high orientation of both c-axis and in-plane for the obtained BNO-doped ErBCO (BNO + ErBCO) films. Ba(Er0.5Nb0.5)O-3 (BENC) nanorods were observed clearly in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images of the BNO + ErBCO films. The BENO nanorod was thinner with decreasing the growth temperature. The BNO + ErBCO films showed higher critical current density (J(C)) than that of a pure ErBCO film in a magnetic field (H) in H parallel to c-axis, indicating that BENO nanorods played as c-axis correlated pinning centers. Furthermore, we found a tendency that J(C) of the BNO + ErBCO films were enhanced with decreasing the growth temperature. Consequently, the pinning effect of the introduced BENO was controlled by the optimization of growth condition such as growth temperature. (c) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V.