Pulsed laser deposition of ErBa2Cu3O7-δ films with BaZrO3 nano-particles by using a novel target

We fabricated an ErBa2Cu3O7-(delta) (ErBCO) thin film with BaZrO3 (BZO) doping (BZO + ErBCO) on a SrTiO3 (STO) substrate by a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method using a novel target which consists of two parts. One is ErBCO for a superconducting phase, the other is rectangular shaped BZO for pinning centers. From an X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, the ErBCO film was c-axis oriented and in-plane aligned on the STO substrate. Microstructures of the BZO + ErBCO film were observed by a transmission electron microscope (TEM). In the TEM image, nano-particles of BZO were observed in the film, not nano-rods. This result means that the novel target enables to dope BZO nano-particles into the film without any target changing. From the TEM image and thickness of the sample, a volume percentage of BZO nano-particles is calculated to be 7.3 vol%. It is almost the same to the calculated value from the percentage of laser irradiating area. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.