X-ray and Electron Diffraction Study of a Precipitation Phase in Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4+y Single Crystal

Abstract

X-ray diffraction measurements have been performed to investigate a crystal structure of a precipitation phase in oxygen-reduced Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4+y (NCCO). A detailed structure analysis of the precipitation phase as well as the parent NCCO phase revealed that the precipitation phase is a cubic (Nd,Ce)₂O₃, which is distorted tetragonally by the surrounding NCCO phase. The averaged grain size of the precipitation phase exceeds 200 Å parallel to the CuO₂ plane of the parent NCCO, while the size along layered direction is short-ranged (∼30 Å). The grain thickness along layered direction is strongly correlated with the homogeneity of superconducting state. The volume fraction of the (Nd,Ce)₂O₃ phase is about 2%. We also performed electron diffraction as well as microscopy experiment, which confirms that the (Nd,Ce)₂O₃ phase segregate from the parent NCCO phase and exists as an epitaxial layer along the c-axis.