Deposition of highly textured ReBa2Cu3O7−δ (RBCO) films on metallic substrates requires a buffer layer to prevent chemical reactions, reduce lattice mismatch between metallic substrate and superconducting film layer, and to prevent diffusion of metal atoms into the superconductor film. Nickel tapes are bi-axially textured by cold rolling and annealing at appropriate temperature (RABiTS) for epitaxial growth of YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) films. As buffer layers, several oxide thin films and then YBCO were coated on bi-axially textured nickel tapes by dip coating sol-gel process. Biaxially oriented NiO on the cube-textured nickel tape by a process named Surface-Oxidation- Epitaxy (SEO) has been introduced as an alternative buffer layer. in this work we have studied in situ growth of nickel oxide by ESEM and hot stage.

Representative cold rolled nickel tape (99.999%) was annealed in an electric furnace under 4% hydrogen-96% argon gas mixture at 1050°C to get bi-axially textured nickel tape.

This research program is intended to develop new insight into the mechanisms of localized corrosion initiation in passive metals through unique approaches based on examining corrosion initiation on needle-shaped samples similar to field emitter tips. Samples with this geometry allow localization of corrosion initiation to the tip itself and therefore pit initiation can be confined to a small lateral area. Local electric fields can also be controlled, thus permitting damage to be confined in the passive over layer, and characterized before pit initiation.

High purity Al wire was used for the initial studies. Wire shaped specimens were electropolished in a 20 % perchloric in methyl alcohol solution at -30°C to obtain the fine needle geometry. The resultant tip radii ranged from 40 to 150 nm with no further sample prep needed and without the presence of artifacts.A custom-designed TEM holder for a Philips CM30 was fabricated, which allowed the needles to be characterized by TEM both prior to and after experiments.

The corrosion of copper is an important area in materials science because of the widespread use of copper in structural devices and electronics. These widespread uses in conjunction with its thermodynamic instability in most atmospheric conditions have prompted numerous atmospheric copper corrosion studies. The goal of these investigations has been to identify the underlying mechanisms by which corrosion proceeds in order to prevent any detrimental corrosion effects. Despite these studies, the microstructure of copper and its oxides remains poorly understood. Therefore, our investigation is concentrated on determining this microstructure.

In our investigation, copper films are electron-beam evaporated onto SiO2 coated Si wafers and then exposed to an electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) O2 plasma, which simulates an aggressive oxidizing environment. The ECR-grown oxide is fully oxidized to CuO at the surface and changes to CU2O further into the sample. The thickness of the oxide layer is controlled by the sample exposure time to the ECR plasma.