Three dimensional analyses of flux pinning centers in Dy-doped YBa2Cu3O7−x coated superconductors by STEM tomography

In order to enhance the superconductive properties of the high temperature superconductors, nanoparticles acting as pinning centers can be intentionally introduced into the structure by chemical doping. In this study, a Dy-doped YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) coated conductor, prepared by a metal organic decomposition process, was investigated to determine the size, composition and 3D distribution of the nanoparticles. It was found that the addition of Dy results in the formation of a high density of secondary phase nanoparticles of composition (YsDy1−s)2Cu2O5 with s ∼ 0.6. A tomographic tilt series was acquired by using a scanning transmission electron microscope to analyze the interaction between the particles and the structural defects and to determine the 3D distribution of nanoparticles. For the investigated sample volume (0.06 μm3), 71 particles were located with a particle size distribution ranging between 13 and 135 nm with an average size of ∼30 nm. The distribution uniformity, position and the size of the particles are observed to be dependent on the interaction of the particles with the twin boundaries. It is observed that the larger particles are generally located on more than one twin boundary, moreover, the particle size is smaller on the twin boundaries shared by several particles. This suggests that the growth of the particles is determined by fast twin boundary diffusion and the formation of the large particles might be prevented by altering the temperature-time parameters of the production processing to enhance the flux pinning characteristic of the superconductors by achieving a more uniform size of flux pinning centers.