High-quality YBa2Cu3O7−x (YBCO) films were fabricated onyttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ)-buffered Hastelloy C276 substrates bypulsed laser deposition. YSZ was grown by ion-beam-assisted deposition.A thin (≈10 nm) CeO2 layer was deposited before the deposition of YBCO.The crystalline structure and biaxial texture of the YBCO film and the bufferlayer were examined by x-ray diffraction 2θ-scan, φ-scan and pole-figureanalysis. Epitaxial growth of the YBCO film on the buffer layer wasobserved. Full width at half maximum (FWHM) value of 7.4◦ was measuredfrom the φ-scan of YBCO(103). Raman spectroscopy showedcompositional uniformity and phase integrity in the YBCO films. Surfacemorphologies of the YBCO films were examined by scanning electronmicroscopy. Comparative studies indicated that the CeO2 buffer layersignificantly improves the structural alignment and superconductingproperties of YBCO films. Tc=90K, with sharp transition, and transportJc=2.2×106 A cm−2 at 77K in zero-external field were obtained on the 0.5μm thick YBCO films. The dependence of Jc on the FWHM of theYBCO(103) φ-scan indicated that high Jc is associated with low FWHM.