Abstract
The recent discovery of a remarkable new family of high critical temperature superconducting oxides has excited extraordinary interest and research activity worldwide1–6. The prospect of superconducting devices and machines operating in liquid nitrogen and at higher temperatures is seen as an unprecedented technological development. There are potential applications in microelectronics and computers, energy storage and transmission, transport, high technology engineering, sensors and instrumentation. For many applications it is essential to prepare these materials in the form of thin films on suitable substrates. Currently, most of the research effort and all of the available published information relates to the fabrication of bulk samples from powders. At Cambridge our primary objective has been to achieve the deposition of high-quality thin films. We have taken this course because, (1) deposition from a multi-target sputter system gives great flexibility and enables us to cast a wide parameter net in composition and temperature to ensure early identification of key superconducting phases, (2) the deposition and processing of 0.5 µm films can be carried out very rapidly with one or possibly more system cycles per day and (3) measurements on thin films provide quantitative information on basic superconducting parameters and are likely to lead to the first practical applications of these remarkable materials. Here we report preliminary results on the deposition of relatively homogeneous films with transition temperature onsets up to 99 K. First results are reported on film deposition conditions, film composition and structure, and on the effect of post-deposition anneals on superconducting properties.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bednorz, J. G. & Müller, K. A. Z. Phys. B64, 189–193 (1986).
Uchida, S., Takagi, H., Kitazawa, K. & Tanaka, S. Jap. J. appl. Phys. 26, 21–24 (1987).
Chu, C. W. et al. Phys. Rev. Leu. 58, 405–407 (1987).
Cava, R. J., van Dover, R. B., Batlogg, B. & Rietman, E. A. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 408–410 (1987).
Wu, M. K. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 58, 908–910 (1987).
Zhao, Z. et al. Kexue Tongbao (in the press).
Somekh, R. E. & Baxter, C. S. J. Cryst. Growth 76, 119–125 (1986).
Er-Rakho, L., Michel, C., Provost, J. & Raveau, B. J. Solid St. Chem. 37, 151–157 (1981).
Michel, C. & Raveau, B. Rev. Chim. miner. 21, 407–425 (1984).
Evetts, J. E. IEEE Trans. Magn. 19, 1109–1119 (1983).
Tarascon, J. M., Greene, L. H., McKinnon, W. R., Hull, G. W. & Geballe, T. H. Science 235, 1373–1376 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Somekh, R., Blamire, M., Barber, Z. et al. High superconducting transition temperatures in sputter-deposited YBaCuO thin films. Nature 326, 857–859 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/326857a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/326857a0
This article is cited by
-
Radio frequency sputtering and the deposition of high-temperature superconductors
Journal of Materials Science Materials in Electronics (1994)
-
Process parameters optimization for laser deposition of highT c superconducting thin films on Si and other substrate materials
Bulletin of Materials Science (1991)
-
Dimensionality crossover regimes due to microcrystalline anisotropy in the resistivity of granular Y1Ba2Cu3O7?y in weak magnetic fields at low temperature
Zeitschrift f�r Physik B Condensed Matter (1988)
-
High Tc superconducting Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films prepared by vacuum co-evaporation
Czechoslovak Journal of Physics (1987)
-
Critical current measurement on Y-Ba-Cu-O
Pramana (1987)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.