Morphology evolution and crack formation of YBa2Cu3O7 on (110)SrTiO3 substrates

Abstract

The detailed grain evolution of (103)-oriented YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films grown on as-polished and preannealed (110)SrTiO3 was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The scanning laser deposition system used in preparing the films allows us to deposit films with various thicknesses in a single deposition run. The AFM images revealed that although more regular alignment of grains at the initial nucleation for films grown on the pre-annealed substrates, there were no apparent differences in surface structure for the thicker films grown on both as-polished and annealed substrates. It was also found that as the films increased to a critical thickness, microcracks were formed in both cases.