Structural, Atomic and Electrostatic Force Microscopy Analyses on YBCO/PBCO/LCMO Superlattices

Abstract

In order to study the influence of the insulator layer thickness in heterojunctions, (YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ[20nm] / PrBa 2 Cu 3 O y /La 1/3 Ca 2/3 MnO 3[20nm] ) x20 superlattices were prepared by pulsed laser deposition using three PrBa 2 Cu 3 O y layer thicknesses and two different sequences of deposition. Sample characterization showed primitive orthorhombic crystalline arrangement for YBCO and LCMO, however, a slightly disordered crystalline structure was observed for the sample having thicker PBCO layer. Microscopy analyses indicated influence of both parameters (PBCO thickness and sequence of deposition) on the texture of the upper layer. Electrostatic Force Microscopy analyses showed evident contrast on the phase images, what suggests that samples are conductive. Distinct surface aspect and highest contrast (highest shift in the electric mode phase image) were observed for the surface of the sample in which the sequence of deposition was inverted, with the YBCO ceramic as upper layer of the superlattice.

Effects of Argon Partial Pressure Variations on Wettability and Anti-icing Characteristics of Aluminum Doped ZnO Thin Films

“…Due to economic values and high demand given by a broad range of applications of coating technologies, there has been a significant effort and energy put into the design and study of functional thin films and technologies 12 . Magnetron sputtering 13 , sol-gel spin coating 14 , atomic layer deposition 15 , chemical vapor deposition 16 , solgel dip coating 17 , and pulsed laser deposition 18 are just a few of the techniques that can be employed to develop coatings.…”