Enhanced critical current density using Nd₂O₃ nano-islands on NdBa₂Cu₃O_7–δ thin films prepared by PLD

¹ K. K. Education Faculty, Department of Physics, Atatürk University, Erzurum, Turkey
² Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Department of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Atatürk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey
³ Engineering Faculty, Department of Electric-Electronic, Atatüsrk University, Erzurum, Turkey

^a e-mail: esonmez@atauni.edu.tr

Received: 11 June 2012
Revised: 2 February 2013
Accepted: 6 February 2013
Published online: 28 March 2013

Abstract

In this study, the effect of Nd₂O₃ nano-islands on the critical properties of NdBa₂Cu₃O_7–δ (Nd-123) superconductive thin films grown on Ni-W metallic substrates was investigated. Nd-123 superconducting ceramic materials were prepared by solid-state reaction technique and then this ceramic material was used as target for producing the Nd-123 superconductive thin films with pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Nano-islands were prepared with the deposition of Nd₂O₃ by PLD. The obtained superconductive thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, morphological investigations of atomic force microscopy (AFM) images, transport analysis such as J_c and R-T measurements by four-point probe (FPP). As a result of these analyses, it was determined that nano-islands have important role for the flux pinning and it provides the increase of about 32% for the critical current value (J_c).