In this process liquids are used to grow the films on a single crystal substrate in near-equilibrium processing conditions. It involves the precipitation of a crystalline phase as the film from a supersaturated melt onto a substrate which acts as both the template for epitaxy and a physical support for the film. Above liquidus temperature all the constituents dissolve into the liquid. However, for film growth as the liquid cools down, some of the constituents precipitate out of the solution and grow epitaxially on a suitable substrate. The typical growth rates for this process vary between 1 to 10 mm/min. LPE offers several advantages over other epitaxial deposition processes such as low-cost operation, good control of composition and thickness, and faster deposition rates. However disadvantages can be poor surface finish, complications in chemistry for the case of complex ternary or higher order systems and presence of volatile elements. LPE could be an attractive process for making coated conductors based on YBCO films and is being extensively studied.²⁹