Despite tremendous efforts in research and development after the discovery of high-temperature perovskite-type layered superconductors, and high expectations expressed in market projection potential electrical commercial applications of these materials, the popularity of these superconductors is taking off very slowly. One of the biggest hurdles facing the widespread application of the (RE)Ba2Cu3O7 is developing a manufacturing process of flexible multifilamentary coated conductors, comprised of a buffered metallic substrate and a superconducting layer (Glowacki, in Frontiers in Superconducting Materials. Springer, New York, 2005), that will produce it in long lengths and at prices competitive with copper for applications such as motors, generators, transmission cables, and other power systems (Lectures on Superconductivity, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 2008). The low-cost powder-in-tube or screen-printing processes, that are successful in the manufacturing of medium temperature superconductor MgB2 and high-temperature Bi-family superconductors cannot be used for (RE)Ba2Cu3O7 conductors due to their granularity and ceramic-like mechanical bulk properties. Deposition of a (RE)Ba2Cu3O7 coating using physical deposition techniques is too expensive to provide low-cost highly textured coated conductor for AC applications (Lectures on Superconductivity, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 2008). Therefore, the obvious choice is the chemical route and the sol gel deposited using ink-jet printing (Glowacki, in Frontiers in Superconducting Materials. Springer, New York, 2005; Lectures on Superconductivity, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, 2008) is currently recognised as potentially the best way to manufacture 3D multifilamentary high temperature superconductor (Glowacki, in Frontiers in Superconducting Materials. Springer, New York, 2005). In this paper the perspective of deposition of buffer layer and multifilamentary (RE)Ba2Cu3O7 superconducting layer by sol gel ink-jet printing is discussed with respect to best conductor AC performance, and also addresses the future research that is required.
