Preparation of NiO buffer layer by direct oxygenation of Ni tape

Recently, Nickel-based alloys are widely used for textured substrates tapes. However, the deposition of oxide buffer layers on nickel tapes is required to stop the diffusion of nickel from the tape to superconducting layer and to improve the mismatch between the substrate and superconducting film. Biaxially textured NiO buffer layer is easily formed on cubic textured nickel tape by the technique called surface oxidation epitaxy. In this work, we developed a direct oxygenating method to make the NiO buffer layer on nickel tape. The nickel tape was directly oxygenated in different atmospheres. It is found that in inert atmosphere, a high quality NiO layer can be formed on the surface of the tape. The oxygenating conditions, including atmospheres and temperatures, and their influence on the structure of the NiO buffer layer, were studied in detail and discussed.