6%. The a-axis grains are

film defects that will block current flowing in GdBCO films. They will cause the degradation of J c[12, 13]. Figure 1 X-ray diffraction patterns for the GdBCO films with different thicknesses. Figure 2 The thickness dependency of the relative ratio of the content of a -axis grains versus c -axis grains. In order to further look into the development of the microstructure for GdBCO films with various thicknesses, we measure the surface morphologies of the studied GdBCO films by SEM and AFM. Figure 3a,b,c,d shows the SEM images of GdBCO films with the thicknesses of 200, 1,030, 1,450, and 2,100 nm, respectively. For the 200-nm-thick GdBCO film, there are a few pinholes on its surface. The appearance of pinholes for (RE) BCO films was first observed by Low et al. [14] (in their Figure four) by pulsed laser ablation method. They associated the pinholes with stronger oriented grains along the c-axis [14]. Tao et Hormones antagonist al. [15] (by sputtering method, in their Figure seven), Chen et al. [16] (by advanced low-fluorine solution method, in their Figure four), and Vermeir et al. [17] (by fluorine-free CB-839 water-based sol–gel AZD3965 order method, in their Figure five) also reported a similar pinhole appearance. In another series of experiments for GdBCO films deposited with different temperatures, we find that a higher temperature favors the emergence of pinholes while a lower temperature favors a flat film without pinholes. It

is well known that for (RE) BCO films, a higher temperature is advantageous for c-axis grain growth while a lower temperature is advantageous for a-axis grain growth. Therefore, it is believed that the appearance of pinholes for our films indicates stronger oriented grains along the c-axis in the film. Figure 3 SEM images of GdBCO films with different thicknesses fabricated under optimized fabrication conditions. (a) 200 nm. (b) 1,030 nm. (c) 1,450 nm. (d) 2,100

nm. As the thickness increases to 1,030 nm, rectangular-shaped outgrowths Guanylate cyclase 2C appear on the film surface. This implies a-axis grains of the GdBCO film. At the same time, both the size and number of pinholes become smaller (Figure 3b). The pinholes disappear for samples F1450 and F2100 (Figure 3c,d). The disappearance of pinholes for thicker GdBCO films can be attributed to a temperature decrease effect of top layers for thicker GdBCO films. Because the GdBCO film is a bad thermal conductor, the top layer will not be heated sufficiently. Hence, it is indicated that the disappearance of pinholes for thicker films probably results from a decrease of deposition temperature for the top layer. This explanation accords very well with our above discussion for the appearance of the pinholes in thinner films. The mechanism of the pinholes is still not clear. They will also damage the superconducting performance of the (RE) BCO films because they will decrease the effective supercurrent-carrying cross-sectional area.