High-performance Fe(Se,Te) films on chemical CeO2-based buffer layers

Scientific Reports, vol. 13, pp. 569

Abstract

Abstract The fabrication of a Fe-based coated conductor (CC) becomes possible when Fe(Se,Te) is grown as an epitaxial film on a metallic oriented substrate. Thanks to the material’s low structural anisotropy, less strict requirements on the template microstructure allow for the design of a simplified CC architecture with respect to the REBCO multi-layered layout. This design, though, still requires a buffer layer to promote the oriented growth of the superconducting film and avoid diffusion from the metallic template. In this work, Fe(Se,Te) films are grown on chemically-deposited, CeO 2 -based buffer layers via pulsed laser deposition, and excellent properties are obtained when a Fe(Se,Te) seed layer is used. Among all the employed characterization techniques, transmission electron microscopy proved essential to determine the actual effect of the seed layer on the final film properties. Also, systematic investigation of the full current transport properties J ( θ , H , T ) is carried out: Fe(Se,Te) samples are obtained with sharp superconducting transitions around 16 K and critical current densities exceeding 1 MA cm −2 at 4.2 K in self-field. The in-field and angular behavior of the sample are in line with data from the literature. These results are the demonstration of the feasibility of a Fe-based CC, with all the relative advantages concerning process simplification and cost reduction.

Authors 15

1. Laura Piperno corresponding

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy. laura.piperno@enea.it

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

2. Angelo Vannozzi

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

3. A. Augieri

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

4. Andrea Masi

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

5. Antonella Mancini

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

6. A. Rufoloni

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

7. G. Celentano

   National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development · ENEA Frascati Research Centre

   Affiliation as printed

   ENEA, Frascati Research Centre, Via E. Fermi, 45, 00044, Frascati, Italy

8. V. Braccini

   Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute

   Affiliation as printed

   CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

9. Matteo Cialone

   Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute

   Affiliation as printed

   CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

10. Michela Iebole

    Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute · University of Genoa

    Affiliation as printed

    CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

    Physics Department, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genoa, Italy

11. Nicola Manca

    Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute

    Affiliation as printed

    CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

12. A. Martinelli

    Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute

    Affiliation as printed

    CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

13. Martina Meinero

    Superconducting and other Innovative Materials and Devices Institute · University of Genoa

    Affiliation as printed

    CNR-SPIN, Corso Perrone 24, 18162, Genoa, Italy

    Physics Department, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genoa, Italy

14. Marina Putti

    University of Genoa

    Affiliation as printed

    Physics Department, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146, Genoa, Italy

15. Alexander Meledin Aachen Central Facility for Electron Microscopy

    Thermo Fisher Scientific (Netherlands) · RWTH Aachen University

    Affiliation as printed

    Central Facility for Electron Microscopy, RWTH Aachen University, Ahornstraße 55, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Thermo Fisher Scientific, Achtseweg Noord 5, 5651 GG, Eindhoven, The Netherlands