A study was performed to examine the
Jc behavior as a function of
thickness in MgB2 films fabricated
by ex situ annealing at 840 °C
of boron films, grown by chemical vapor deposition, in Mg vapor. The film thicknesses range between 300 nm
and 10 µm. The
values of Jc
range from 1.2 × 107 A cm−2 for 300 nm
to 1.9 × 105 A cm−2 for
10 µm
film thicknesses at 20 K and self-field. The study shows that the critical current density
(Jc)
in MgB2
films decreases with increasing film thickness, similar to that observed in
YBCO-coated conductors. Moreover, our study shows that critical current
(Ic) reaches its
maximum value of 728 A cm−1
width at ∼1 µm
thick MgB2
films at 20 K and self-field, which is, interestingly, the same thickness
of pulsed-laser-deposited YBCO-coated conductors at which
Ic reaches its maximum
value. The high Jc
values carried by our films show that the ex situ fabrication method can produce high quality
MgB2
films at low processing temperatures, which is promising for RF cavity applications and
coated-conductor wires and tapes.