THE EFFECT OF DOPING WITH TANTALUM ON THE PROPERTIES OF YBA2CU3O7-Y

YBa2Cu3-xTaxO7-y (x = 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6) superconductors have been prepared, X-ray diffraction shows that the system remains orthorhombic for all compositions studied but. for x > 0.2, Ta2O5 was detected as an impurity phase. Substitution of Ta5+ for Cu2+ occurs in the Cu(2) sites on the Cu(2)O planes. The introduction of the high-valence element tantalum produces extra free electrons. These electrons recombine with the positive carrier of the system, which causes the mobility and the Hall number of YBa2Cu3-xTaxO7-y to decrease and also results in a depression in T(c).