We present a simple liquid-assisted processing (LAP) method, to be used in situ during pulsed laser deposition growth to give both rapid growth rates (50 Hz deposition leading to >250 nm min⁻¹ with a single plume) and strong pinning (improved 5–10 at 30 K and below, over plain standard YBCO films grown at similar rates). Achieving these two important features simultaneously has been a serious bottleneck to date and yet for applications, it is critical to overcome it. The new LAP method uses a non-stoichiometric target composition, giving rise to a small volume fraction of liquid phase during film growth. LAP enhances the kinetics of the film growth so that good crystalline perfection can be achieved at up to 60 faster growth rates than normal, while also enabling artificial pinning centres to be self-assembled into fine nanocolumns. In addition, LAP allows for RE mixing (80% of Y with 20% of Yb, Sm, or Yb + Sm), creating effective point-like disorder pinning centres within the rare earth barium cuprate lattice. Overall, LAP is a simple method for use in pulsed laser deposition, and it can also be adopted by other in situ physical or vapour deposition methods (i.e. MOCVD, evaporation, etc) to significantly enhance both growth rate and performance.

我们提出了一种简单的液体辅助处理（LAP）方法，该方法可在脉冲激光沉积生长过程中原位使用，以提供快速的生长速率（50 Hz沉积导致单羽羽流> 250 nm min ^-1）和牢固的钉扎（与以类似速率生长的普通标准YBCO薄膜相比，在30 K及以下的温度下提高了5-10。同时实现这两个重要功能迄今为止，它一直是一个严重的瓶颈，但是对于应用程序而言，克服它是至关重要的。新的LAP方法使用非化学计量的目标成分，在薄膜生长过程中会产生少量的液相。LAP增强了薄膜生长的动力学，因此可以在比正常情况下快60倍的生长速率下实现良好的晶体完美，同时还可以将人工钉扎中心自动组装成细小的纳米柱。此外，LAP允许RE混合（80％的Y与20％的Yb，Sm或Yb + Sm）混合，在稀土钡铜酸盐晶格中形成有效的点状无序固定中心。总体而言，LAP是用于脉冲激光沉积的一种简单方法，也可以被其他原位采用。 物理或气相沉积方法（例如，MOCVD，蒸发等）以显着提高生长速率和性能。