Electrodeposition of biaxial textured films

Abstract

The present invention provides a method of forming a biaxially textured gold buffer layer ( 14 ) a on a substrate( 16 ) by electrodeposition. A superconducting material ( 12 ) may be deposited onto the biaxially textured goldlayer ( 14 ). The biaxial texturing in the gold layer ( 14 ) is maintained in the deposited superconductor material( 12 ) to produce high critical current density.

1 . A method of forming a gold layer having biaxial texturing on a substrate, the method comprising electrodepositing gold onto a surface of the substrate at a current density of less than about 5.0 mA/cm 2  for at least about 1 minute.  
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  including electrodepositing the gold at a current density of between about 0.10 and 3.5 mA/cm 2  for between about 1 and 60 minutes.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  including electrodepositing the gold at a current density of between about 0.13 and 0.30 mA/cm 2  for between about 30 and 60 minutes.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  including electrodepositing the gold at a current density of about 0.13 mA/cm 2  for between about 45 and 60 minutes.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  including annealing the gold layer to increase the biaxial texturing in the gold layer.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  including annealing the gold layer in forming gas at between about 500 and 600° C. for between about 12 and 60 hours to increase the biaxial texturing in the gold layer.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  including annealing the gold layer at about 550° C. for about 48 hours to increase the biaxial texturing in the gold layer.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  comprising biaxially texturing the metal substrate prior to electrodepositing the gold.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  including rolling the metal substrate to biaxially texture the metal substrate.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  including epitaxially depositing the gold layer on the biaxially textured substrate.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  comprising repeating the electrodepositing step to increase the thickness of the gold layer.  
     
     
         12 . A method of making a superconducting article comprising: 
 electrodepositing a layer of gold having biaxial texturing onto a surface of a substrate; and    depositing a superconducting layer onto the gold layer such that biaxial texturing of the gold layer is maintained in the superconducting layer.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  including depositing the superconducting material by pulsed-laser deposition.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising annealing the gold layer in forming gas to increase biaxial texturing.  
     
     
         15 . A method of depositing a gold layer having biaxial texturing onto a substrate comprising electrodepositing gold at a current density of between about 0.10 and 3.5 mA/cm 2  for between about 1 and 60 minutes.  
     
     
         16 . A biaxially textured, superconducting article for use in electronic devices comprising: 
 a substrate; and    a gold layer having biaxial texturing deposited on the substrate.    
     
     
         17 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the substrate consists essentially of nickel, tungsten, chromium, titanium, palladium or copper.  
     
     
         18 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the substrate consists essentially of nickel.  
     
     
         19 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the substrate has biaxial texturing.  
     
     
         20 . The article of  claim 19  wherein the gold layer is epitaxially deposited onto the biaxially textured substrate.  
     
     
         21 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the gold layer has partial biaxial texturing.  
     
     
         22 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the gold layer has complete biaxial texturing.  
     
     
         23 . The article of  claim 16  wherein the gold layer has a thickness between about 0.01 and 5 microns.  
     
     
         24 . A superconducting article comprising: 
 a metal substrate having a surface;    a gold layer having biaxial texturing deposited on the surface of the metal substrate; and    a superconducting material having biaxial texturing deposited onto the gold layer.    
     
     
         25 . The article of  claim 24  wherein the biaxial texturing is maintained in the superconducting material.  
     
     
         26 . The article of  claim 24  wherein the superconducting material is a high temperature superconducting material.  
     
     
         27 . The article of  claim 24  wherein the superconducting material is YBCO, BSCCO, TBCCO, PBSCCO, TSBCCO, TPSBCO, HBCCO, or HBCO.  
     
     
         28 . The article of  claim 24  wherein the superconducting material includes YBCO.