SUPERCONDUCTING A-15 NB-3 GE FILMS PRODUCED BY REACTIVE EVAPORATION

The reactive evaporation process was successfully used to deposit films of the A-15 Nb//3Ge phase. In this process, niobium vapors from an electron-beam-heated evaporation source react with germane gas introduced into the vacuum chamber at low partial pressures (approximately 10** minus **4 Torr) to produce Nb//3Ge deposits. The process variables studied were the deposition temperature, the niobium-to-germanium impingement ratio on the substrate and the plasma-enhanced deposition, in this case the activated reactive evaporation process.