Intrinsic pinning and current percolation signatures in E-J characteristics of Si/YSZ/CeO

In the context of superconducting electronics integrated with traditional silicon-based electronics we grew Si/YSZ/CeO2/YBa2Cu3O7-x architectures by means of the scalable magnetron sputtering growth technique. In this paper we report on structural, surface and electrical transport characterization of typical multilayers. We focus on the electrical transport characterization in the temperature range 18–30 K of c-axis YBa2Cu3O7-x films grown on top of several (001) oriented buffered substrates. The electric field vs. current density (E-J) curves exhibit step-like behaviour in correspondence to the transition between the non-dissipative and the flux-flow regimes. This trend is accompanied by the signature of linearly correlated pinning. On the other hand, in the flux-flow regime clear signatures of weak-link behaviour and current percolation are exhibited. In this complex framework possible future applications are discussed