Completely Etch-Free Fabrication of Multifilamentary Coated Conductor Using Inkjet Printing and Electrodeposition
Filamentization has been proven to be an effective way to reduce the ac loss of coated conductor superconducting tapes. However, all filamentization techniques to date involve material removal at some stage of processing. Utilizing inkjet printing and electrodeposition, a novel, completely etch-free method of fabricating multifilamentary RE-Ba-Cu-O (REBCO, $\hbox{RE} = \hbox{rare-earth}$ ) superconducting tapes has been developed. Multiple insulating lines were fabricated on biaxially-textured MgO-buffered substrates by inkjet printing. Multifilamentary REBCO was obtained by preferential deposition of the superconductor between the insulating lines. Selective deposition of silver by electrodeposition on REBCO filaments was also achieved to create a multifilamentary conductor with a complete etch-free process. Due to the highly resistive barrier lines, reduced ac loss with minimized coupling was achieved in the multifilamentary REBCO tapes. Optimization of the inkjet and REBCO deposition process is underway to achieve a combination of high critical current and low ac losses by this completely etch-free technique.