Improved structural properties and crystal coherence of superconducting NdBa2Cu3O7-delta films grown by pulsed laser ablation

We report on improved structural, crystallographic and electrical properties of epitaxial NdBa2Cu3O7-delta (NBCO) films grown on SrTiO3 by 'off-axis' pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Transport and XRD studies show that the c-axis-oriented epitaxial films, with critical temperatures of 90-92 K, are mono phase and single-crystalline. Furthermore, very smooth, almost outgrowth-free surfaces and crystal coherences of up to 0.8 mum (to our knowledge the best value ever reported for high-T-c films) were obtained