Growth mechanism evolvement influence on out-of-plane texture of Y2O3 seed layer for coated conductors

•We investigated the texture of Y2O3 layers influence by Ts•Y2O3 lattice parameters and residual strain were calculated by high-resolution RSM.•The two growth models were exhibited: ‘tilt growth model’ and ‘epitaxy growth model’.

The Y2O3 films were deposited on biaxially textured Ni–5%W (NiW) substrates at different substrate temperatures (Ts). The microstructures of the Y2O3 films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) θ–2θ scans and ω-scans. The Y2O3 lattice parameters and residual stress were measured and calculated by high-resolution reciprocal space mapping (HR-RSM). Results showed that the Y2O3 films deposited on the NiW substrate exhibited different growth mechanisms at different Ts. At a low temperature range, the Y2O3 films grew via the tilt growth mechanism. The Y2O3 film grown at Ts=620 °C exhibited the highest residual stress and sharpest out-of-plane texture. With the increase in Ts, the growth mechanism changed to the epitaxial growth mechanism. At Ts=720 °C, the Y2O3 underwent epitaxial growth on the NiW substrates, and the out-of-plane textures of Y2O3 and NiW were almost identical.