High-throughput ex-situ method for rare-earth-barium-copper-oxide (REBCO) film growth

A process for producing long lengths of a layered superconductor comprising:

• coating a buffered metal substrate tape with metalorganic precursors of REBa2Cu3O7 where RE is a rare earth to form a coated tape, wherein coating is carried out during the process of metalorganic deposition (MOD);
• translating the coated tape through a precursor conversion zone in a process chamber at a rate of at least about 10 meters per hour;
• introducing oxygen and water vapor through a showerhead into the precursor conversion zone while translating the coated tape, the showerhead having a width at least as wide as the sum of the widths of the translating coated tapes plus the sum of the distances between each of the translating coated tapes and having a length at least as great as the width;
• heating the coated tape to a temperature in the range between about 700° C. to about 850° C. within the precursor conversion zone;
• and
• reacting the water vapor, oxygen, and the metalorganic precursors of REBa2Cu3O7 to form a superconducting coating while translating the tape through the precursor conversion zone,
• where the pressure in the process chamber is in the range between about 1 Torr to about 760 Torr and where the substrate resides in the precursor conversion zone for a period of time sufficient to convert the precursors to a superconducting coating epitaxial to the buffer layer.