Development of Multilayer High-Temperature Superconducting Films with High-Power Handling Capability

The primary objective of this STTR is to develop thick, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) multi-layer heterostructures for high-power handling microwave devices and with reduced nonlinearities. Building on the resources of Neocera’s materials research on HTS heterostructures and MIT Lincoln Laboratories vast knowledge on nonlinear behavior of HTS films at microwave frequencies, this STTR Phase I seeks to establish the feasibility of the proposed approach. Thick, multilayer YBCO/CeO2 film stacks, with alternating YBCO and CeO2 layers will be deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition technique at Neocera. The films will be patterned to form stripline resonators and will be characterized for their nonlinear behavior at MIT Lincoln Laboratories. Third order intermodulation distortion measurements will be carried out as a function of power from -50 dBm to +30 dBm and temperatures from 1.8K to Tc to establish the proposed feasibility and to verify improved nonlinearities.