Screen printed Tl-1223 superconducting thick films

Highly oriented bismuth- and lead-codoped Tl-1223 superconducting, 5 - 10 mum thick films of the composition (Tl0.6Bi0.16Pb0.24)(Ba0.1ST0.9)(2)Ca2Cu3Oy were prepared on polycrystalline ZrO2 substrates by screen printing. The influence of the mesh opening and the heat treatment on the properties of the superconducting film was investigated. Sintering was performed by a two step process with an intermediate uni-axial compaction step to enhance both texturing and density. T-c(0)-values of 118 K with narrow transition widths around 1 K were observed. X-ray diffraction proved the high phase purity of the material. The degree of texturing was calculated from the intensities of the respective XRD peaks. Transport critical current densities in the range of 10 kA cm(-2) at 77 K were obtained.