Effect of Silver Doping on the Superconducting and Structural Properties of YBCO Films Grown by PLD on Different Templates

We report the local structural and superconducting properties of undoped and Ag-doped YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x (YBCO) films with a thickness of up to 1 µm prepared by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO₃ (STO) single crystals and on ion-beam-assisted deposition (IBAD) and rolling-assisted biaxially textured substrate (RABiTS)-based metal templates. X-ray diffraction demonstrates the high crystalline quality of the films on both single crystalline substrates and metal-based templates, respectively. Although there was only a slight decrease in T_c of up to 1.5 K for the Ag-doped YBCO films on all substrates, we found significant changes in their transport characteristics. The effect of the silver doping mainly depended on the concentration of silver, the type of substrate, and the temperature and magnetic field. In general, the greatest improvement in J_c over a wide range of magnetic fields and temperatures was observed for the 5%Ag-doped YBCO films on STO substrates, showing a significant increase compared to undoped films. Furthermore, a slight J_c improvement was observed for the 2%Ag-doped YBCO films on the RABiTS templates at temperatures below 65 K, whereas J_c decreased for the Ag-doped films on IBAD-MgO-based templates compared to undoped YBCO films. Using detailed electron microscopy studies, small changes in the local microstructure of the Ag-doped YBCO films were revealed; however, no clear correlation was found with the transport properties of the films.