Effect of temperature and spinning speed on texture in spin-coated Sm2Zr2O7 buffer layer on Ni-5 at.%W RABiTS for coated conductors

The usage of Rolling Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrates (RABiTS) is a versatile method to produce High-Temperature Superconductor (HTS) based coated conductors. We have investigated, for the first time, the texture evolution of the Sm₂Zr₂O₇ (SZO) barrier layer produced by spin coating on Ni-5 at.%W (Ni5W) RABiTS to create a biaxially textured buffer layer architecture. The annealing temperature and spinning speed which are the important film deposition parameters, were varied and their effect on the texture of the film has been investigated to obtain the optimum conditions required for the growth of highly textured film with sufficient thickness. Textured growth of SZO film could be seen across a wide range of substrate temperatures by X-ray diffraction (XRD) based studies. The microstructural investigations were executed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The findings indicate that the annealing temperature and spinning speed affect the films' growth orientation and surface morphology. The XRD (φ scan and ω scan) studies have shown the ability to realise the SZO buffer layer with strong in-plane and out-of-plane texture and a c-axis oriented growth on Ni5W substrate by chemical solution deposition (CSD).