Patent ID: 7510641

Claim:
A continuous process of providing a highly smooth surface to a metallic tape, the process comprising: passing a metallic tape consisting essentially of an uncoated polycrystalline nickel alloy having an initial roughness of more than about 10 nm as a RMS roughness through an acid bath contained within a polishing section of an electropolishing unit over a pre-selected period of time; and, passing a mean surface current density of at least 0.37 amperes per square centimeter through the metallic tape during the period of time the metallic tape is in the acid bath whereby the roughness of the metallic tape is reduced to a RMS roughness of less than about 1 nm; depositing a layer of oriented cubic oxide material onto the metallic tape having a roughness of less than about 1 nm, wherein the in-plane alignment of the oriented cubic oxide material is less than about 7 degrees.