Texture transfer mechanism of buffer layer in coated conductors

We have studied the texture transfer process of buffer layers prepared by chemical solution deposition (CSD) methods on YSZ (00l) single crystal substrates and biaxial textured Ni-W substrates. The structure, texture, and surface morphology of the buffer layers were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our results show that the degree of texture and the surface morphology of the buffer layers vary with the changes of the substrate and the lattice mismatch of the top buffer layers with La ₂Zr ₂O ₇ (LZO) after crystallization in argon-hydrogen atmosphere. Moreover, the growth mode of multi-layer films and the type of the lattice strain have strong influence on the formation and the transfer of the bi-axial texture in multi-layer buffer architecture. It suggests that there exists a possible connection between the strain relaxation and the texture transfer in buffer layer fabricated by CSD methods. Information on the texture transfer of buffer layer is important for optimizing the buffer layer architecture in coated conductors.