Optimization of MOCVD Hardware Configuration and Process for Growth of High Quality (Gd,Y)BCO Superconducting Tapes Based on CFD Modeling

• Published in: IEEE transactions on applied superconductivity Vol. 29; no. 5; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Authors: Zhang, Shudong, Fan, Ziming, Jiang, Ping, Xu, Shiwei, Han, Zhichen, Yang, Gang, Liu, Yujie, Chen, Yimin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.08.2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: CFD modeling; Computational fluid dynamics; Configurations; Critical current (superconductivity); Film growth; flow field and temperature profile; Flow velocity; Gadolinium; Gas flow; Gd; Hardware; Inductors; large area MOCVD reactor; Mathematical models; Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition; MOCVD; Morphology; Optimization; Organic chemistry; Process parameters; Superconducting films; Superconducting tapes; Superconductivity; Surface morphology; Surface treatment; Temperature; Temperature profiles; Thick films; Y)BCO; Yttrium
• ISSN: 1051-8223; 1558-2515
• DOI: 10.1109/TASC.2019.2896464

A systematic computational fluid dynamic (CFD) study was performed to investigate the effects of hardware configuration and process parameters on flow field and temperature profile above the film growth surface for (Gd,Y)BCO superconducting tapes in a metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) reactor. Significant improvement in the uniformity of flow field and temperature profile was achieved by optimizing the gap between showerhead and susceptor, showerhead length, gas flow rate, and chamber pressure. As results of the improvement in hardware configuration based on CFD modeling, high quality (Gd,Y)BCO superconducting films were achieved and the limit on growth rate was increased. The improvement was not only in the surface morphology (achieving more clean and smooth surface with less outgrowth grains and impurity phase particles), but also in the cross sectional microstructure view (more uniform from the bottom to the top) for thick films processed by the reel-to-reel MOCVD. A 1.76-μm-thick (Gd,Y)BCO film in a 284-m-long tape yielded a self-field critical current of 769 A/12 mm width at 77 K.