High-temperature phase transformations in YBa2Cu3O(7+delta) and their effect on the superconducting transition

Low-temperature (700 K or less), intermediate equilibrium (700-900 K), and hardened metastable phases, as well as a high-temperature (900 K and above) tetragonal phase, have been identified in polycrystalline YBa2Cu3O(7+delta). The transition between the first two phases is associated with the loss (during heating) or addition (during cooling) of one oxygen ion per formula unit. Superconductivity is realized in the low-temperature phase, in which the copper ions of two middle copper-oxygen planes are octahedrally coordinated by oxygen ions.