FeSe0.5Te0.5 thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on CaF2, LaAlO3 and MgO substrates and structurally and electro-magnetically characterized in order to study the influence of the substrate on their transport properties. The in-plane latt
ice mismatch between FeSe0.5Te0.5 bulk and the substrates shows no influence on the lattice parameters of the films, whereas the type of substrates affects the crystalline quality of the films and, therefore, the superconducting properties. The film on MgO showed an extra peak in the angular dependence of critical current density Jc({theta}) at {theta} = 180{deg} (H || c), which arises from c-axis defects as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. In contrast, no Jc({theta}) peaks for H || c were observed in films on CaF2 and LaAlO3. Jc({theta}) can be scaled successfully for both films without c-axis correlated defects by the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau (AGL) approach with appropriate anisotropy ratio {gamma}J. The scaling parameter {gamma}J is decreasing with decreasing temperature, which is different from what we observed in FeSe0.5Te0.5 films on Fe-buffered MgO substrates.
Highly textured NdFeAs(O,F) thin films have been grown on ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD)-MgO/Y2O3/Hastelloy substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The oxypnictide coated conductors showed a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of 43 K with
a self-field critical current density (Jc) of 7.0 x 104 A/cm2 at 5 K, more than 20 times higher than powder-in-tube processed SmFeAs(O,F) wires. Albeit higher Tc as well as better crystalline quality than Co-doped BaFe2As2 coated conductors, in-field Jc of NdFeAs(O,F) was lower than that of Co-doped BaFe2As2. These results suggest that grain boundaries in oxypnictides reduce Jc significantly compared to that in Co-doped BaFe2As2 and, hence biaxial texture is necessary for high Jc.
