Chemical solution deposition: a path towards low cost coated conductors

The achievement of low cost deposition techniques for high critical current YBa2Cu3O7 coated conductors is one of the major objectives to achieve a widespread use of superconductivity in power applications. Chemical solution deposition techniques are appearing as a very promising methodology to achieve epitaxial oxide thin films at a low cost, so an intense effort is being carried out to develop routes for all chemical coated conductor tapes. In this work recent achievements will be presented towards the goal of combining the deposition of different type of buffer layers on metallic substrates based on metal–organic decomposition with the growth of YBa2Cu3O7 layers using the trifluoroacetate route. The influence of processing parameters on the microstructure and superconducting properties will be stressed. High critical currents are demonstrated in 'all chemical' multilayers.