A review of the influence of grain boundary geometry on the electromagnetic properties of polycrystalline YBa2Cu3O7-x films

Shortly after the discovery of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) materials in the late 1980s, it was revealed that grain boundaries in these complex oxides are strong barriers to current flow. This fact has remained one of the most significant challenges to a viable HTS conductor, and necessitated the development of technologies capable of producing biaxially textured substrates in long lengths. Multiple studies have reported that the critical current density (J(c)) across grain boundaries in the perovskite-like superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-x, (YBCO) falls off exponentially below the intragrain J(c) beyond a critical misorientation angle theta(c) of only approximate to 2 degrees-3 degrees. Here we review our recent work demonstrating that certain grain boundary geometries permit significant enhancements of J(c) well beyond the conventional J(c)(theta) limit, and also that the grain boundary structure in YBCO films is tied closely to the films' deposition technique. Pulsed laser deposition, a physical vapor deposition technique, results in a columnar grain structure and planar grain boundaries that exhibit the typical J(c)(theta) dependence. Ex situ growth processes, where the YBCO film is converted from a previously deposited precursor, can result in laminar grain growth with highly meandered grain boundaries. These latter grain boundary structures are directly correlated to greatly improved J(c) values over a wide range of applied magnetic fields. Consequently, very high J(c) values are possible in polycrystalline HTS wire even when significant misorientations between grains are present.