The crystal perfection improvement of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-x thin films by afterglow plasma process

In this article, we report the growth of purely (001) oriented single crystal Y1Ba2Cu3O7-x thin films with excellent crystal perfection by afterglow plasma sputtering. Because of little energetic ion and electron bombardment, the crystal perfection of Y1Ba2Cu3O7-x thin films was significantly improved. The full width at half-maximum value of the rocking curve around the (005) diffraction peak of the films is 0.12 degrees. The experiments demonstrate that the afterglow plasma process is very appropriate for the preparation of high-quality Y1Ba2Cu3O7-x thin films, which are very sensitive to ion bombardment effects. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.