Characterization of epitaxially grown YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-δ/ thin films produced using pulsed ion-beam evaporation

Abstract

Epitaxially grown YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 (Y-123) thin films have been successfully deposited on single crystal SrTiO 3 substrates by a pulsed ion-beam evaporation (IBE) method. A cation-stoichiometric Y-123 target was bombarded by protons with an energy of 1 MeV (peak) using a pulsed ion beam generator ('ETIGO-II'). The ablation plasma was deposited on SrTiO 3 single crystal substrates. The thin films were heat-treated at 900 C for 2 h and 650 C for 5 h in flowing oxygen gas. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern for an annealed thin film revealed that a single-phase, -axis-oriented Y-123 thin film was obtained. Since a fourfold symmetry was observed in a (102) pole figure, the Y-123 thin film was concluded to be epitaxially grown on the SrTiO 3 substrate. From high-speed photographs of the time evolution of the plasma, the instantaneous deposition rate of the film was estimated to be approximately 5 mm/s.