The innovative Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition (CCVD) process is a non-vacuum technique that is being investigated to enable next generation products in several application areas including high-temperature superconductors (HTS). In combination with the Rolling Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrate (RABiTS) technology, the CCVD process has significant promise to provide low-cost, high-quality lengths of YBCO coated conductor. The CCVD technology has been used to deposit both buffer layer coatings as well as YBCO superconducting layers. A buffer layer architecture of strontium titanate and ceria have been deposited by CCVD on textured nickel substrates and optimized to appropriate thicknesses and microstructures to provide templates for growing PLD YBCO with high critical current density values. The CCVD buffer layers have been scaled to meter plus lengths with good epitaxial uniformity along the length. A short sample cut from one of the lengths enabled high critical current density PLD YBCO. Films of CCVD YBCO superconductors have been grown on single crystal substrates with critical current densities over 1 MA/cm2. Work is currently in progress to combine both the buffer layer and superconductor technologies to produce high-quality coupons of HTS tape made entirely by the non-vacuum CCVD process.

The enormous technological potential of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) was realized immediately following their discovery in 1986, yet these materials largely remain laboratory curiosities as scientists struggle to scale from coupons to long lengths of practical coated conductor. Although both vacuum and non-vacuum processes are being investigated for commercial production, low-throughput vacuum techniques were the first to succeed in producing the buffer and superconducting layers necessary for superconducting tape with high critical currents. However, vacuum processes are not only expensive but impractical when addressing the needs for rapid production of kilometer lengths of wire. The innovative Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition (CCVD) method used with the Rolling Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrates (RABiTS™) technology has shown significant promise in fabricating the multi-layer structures necessary for successful HTS tape while overcoming many of the shortcomings of traditional vacuum techniques. The key advantage of the CCVD technology is its ability to deposit high quality thin films in the open atmosphere using inexpensive precursor chemicals in solution. As a result, continuous, production-line manufacturing is possible with significantly reduced capital requirements and operating costs when compared to competing vacuum-based technologies. The current status of development for production of long lengths of high-temperature superconductors using CCVD will be discussed.