In Situ Preparation of Y‐Ba‐Cu‐O Thin Films on Silicon Single Crystals

Abstract

AbstractSuperconducting Y—Ba—Cu—O thin films with critical temperatures exceeding 80 K are deposited on silicon single crystal substrates using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Deposition from a sintered Y1 Ba2Cu3O7‐ target in oxygen ambient of 0.1 — 5 mbar onto substrates kept at 700°C to 820°C results in crystalline films in which the target composition of the metallic constituents is preserved. No post deposition treatments are required to obtain high values for the zero resistance. X— ray analysis as well as Raman spectroscopy reveal that specimens prepared at optimum conditions are single phase c—axis oriented. In contrast to films prepared on LaAlO3 or SrTiO3 the surface morphology shows a granular structure. The films prepared by this technique are quite stable against chemicals used in conventional lithographic patterning, however, a strong correlation between film quality before patterning and some degradation after patterning is observed.