ADVANCES IN HIGH-TC SUPERCONDUCTING THIN-FILM RESEARCH AT SRL-ISTEC

Thin film research at SRL is focussed on in two major area: (1) understanding the mechanisms of film growth of Oxide superconductors, and (2) developing superconducting oxide films with correct chemical composition and perfect crystal structure. The oxide films are being fabricated by evaporation, pulsed laser ablation, rf sputtering, and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Key features of these systems include oxidation using O+ beams, in-situ monitoring of film surface structure by reflection high energy election diffraction (RHEED), in-situ examining of chemical composition by total-reflection-angle X-ray spectroscopy (TRAXS), and analysis of ablated species using time of flight mass spectroscopy.