Raman scattering spectroscopy as a characterization method of coated conductors

The purpose of this work is to develop, integrate, and implement an optical characterization method to evaluate physical properties in coated conductors and investigate the local distribution of the causes of degraded performance. The method that we selected at this moment is Raman scattering spectroscopy, which is accompanied with measurements of local supercurrent transport, phase composition, microstructure, and epitaxy quality for coated conductors that range in size up to multi-meter-length tapes and that embrace the entire tape embodiment (substrate through cap layer). The establishment of Raman spectroscopy as an on-line process monitoring tool is our eventual goal of research, but it requires very robust and cost-effective equipments. We analyzed $YBa_2Cu_3O_7(YBCO)$ thin films grown at various substrate temperatures by using Raman spectroscopy. YBCO films were grown by a high-rate electron-beam co-evaporation method. Raman spectra of YBCO films with lower-transport properties exhibit additional phonon modes at ${\sim}300cm^{-1}$, ${\sim}600cm^{-1}$ and ${\sim}630cm^{-1}$, which are related to second-phases such as $Ba_2Cu_3O_{5.9}$ and $BaCuO_2$. We propose a new method to characterize Raman spectra of coated conductors for an in-line quality control.