LAUSR

The effect of CdTe addition on YBa2Cu3O7−δ(CdTe)x (x = 0–0.10) has been studied. XRD patterns showed the presence of impurities including CdTe for x ≥ 0.05 wt%. The resistance versus temperature curves showed metallic behavior for all samples. The onset temperature Tc onset for all samples is between 90 and 92 K. The superconducting transition width, ΔTc = 4 K for all samples except for x = 0.1 wt% where ΔTc = 6 K. The superconducting transition determined by AC susceptibility measurement also showed little change in Tcχ′$T_{\mathrm {c}\chi ^{\prime }}$ (between 89 and 92 K). However, the peak temperature Tp of the imaginary part of the susceptibility χ″, showed a drastic decrease for samples with x > 0.05 wt%. This indicated that the superconducting grains were strongly decoupled for x > 0.05 wt% due to the impurities as observed in the XRD pattern. The intergrain critical current density, Jc at Tp for the x = 0 sample is Jc (82 K) = 17 A cm−2. These results can be useful in the fabrication of semiconductor/YBCO superconductor hybrid systems.