Possibility of high deposition rate in SmBa₂Cu₃O _y, films prepared using the vapor-liquid-solid growth mode

The vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mode is expected to achieve high-quality REBa₂Cu₂O_y thin films at a high growth rate since it is almost identical to the liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) growth mode. We studied the effect of the deposition rate on superconductivity in SmBa₂Cu₃O_y (Sm123) thin films prepared using the VLS growth mode. The VLS-Sm123 films as well as that deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) under optimal conditions had completely c-axis orientation and maintained high crystallinity. Critical temperatures were around 90 K and independent of the deposition rate. However, critical current densities increased with the deposition rate and reached over 1 MA/cm ² at 77 K. In this study, a maximum deposition rate of 320nm/min was achieved; this was thirty times as high as that obtained by PLD. We propose that a deposition rate as high as that obtained by LPE can be achieved by the VLS growth mode.