Effect of target density on the growth and properties of YGBCO thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition

Some works found that target density had not a large effects on the superconducting or structural properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. However, the possible effect of target density on the Y0.5Gd0.5Ba2Cu3O7-δ (YGBCO) is not clear. In this paper, YGBCO thin films were deposited on flexible metal substrates by pulsed laser deposition using target with different densities. The density of each YGBCO target was varied from to 4.0 g/cm3 to 5.5 g/cm3. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the microstructure and superconducting properties of YGBCO films as a function of the target density. The film structures were examined by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The superconducting properties of the YGBCO films were evaluated using the conventional four-probe method and PPMS. It was found that all the YGBCO films had pure c-axis orientation. The target density had effect on the surface morphology and superconducting properties of the YGBCO thin films. With increasing target density, the pore became larger and the distribution density and size of the particles became higher and larger, and the critical current Ic decreased. The YGBCO film deposited at a target density of 4.0 g/cm3 exhibited the highest critical current density Jc of 5.4 MA/cm2 at 77 K and self-field, 47.2 MA/cm2 at 0 T and 8.8 MA/cm2 at 9 T at 4.2 K and B//c.