NOVEL PROCESS FOR THE THIN FILM GROWTH OF YBA2CU3O7

REALIZATION OF THE PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGES OF SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES IN HIGH FREQUENCY COMMUNICATIONS DEPENDS ON DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW TEMPERATURE DEPOSITION PROCESS WITH EXACTING CONTROL OF STOICHIOMETRY AND MORPHOLOGY. MOCVD CAN MEET THESE NEEDS COUPLED WITH EASE OFSCALE-UP. HOWEVER, RECENT WORK AT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY MATERIALS, INC. SHOWS THAT YBACUO AND BISRCACUO FILMS GROWN BY MOCVD AT TEMPERATURES LESS THAN 800 DEGREES CENTIGRADE ARE AMORPHOUS MIXTURES OF OXIDES, WITH CAULIFLOWER-LIKE MORPHOLOGY INDICATIVE OF LOW SURFACE MOBILITY GROWTH. SURFACE MOBILITIES CAN BE ENHANCED THROUGH THE USE OF A PLASMA. MOREOVER, PLASMA ASSISTED LASER ABLATION, SPUTTERING AND REACTIVE EVAPORATION HAVE ALREADY BEEN UTILIZED FOR THE IN-SITU GROWTH OF SUPERCONDUCTING THIN FILMS AT 400-600 DEGREES CENTIGRADE. AT 600 DEGREES CENTIGRADE, A 50 EV OXYGEN ION BEAM OXIDIZED BAF2 TO BAO, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT PLASMA ENHANCED-CVD WILL EFFECT THE IN-SITU GROWTH OF SUPERCONDUCTING THIN FILMS WITH THE EXISTING REAGENTS AT 600 DEGREES CENTIGRADE OR BELOW. PHASE I WILL DEMONSTRATE THE GROWTH OF IN-SITU SUPERCONDUCTING THIN FILMS BY PECVD. PHASE II WILL FOCUS ONPROCESS OPTIMIZATION THRU THE CORRELATION OF PLASMA PROPERTIES DETERMINED BY IN-SITU DIAGNOSTICS WITH THE HTSC THIN FILM CHARACTERIZATION DATA. THIS WILL ALLOW A PHASE III SCALE-UP OF THE PECVD PROCESS TO MULTIWAFER PRODUCTION.