The effect of annealing conditions on Laser deposited superconducting Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O thin films

The method of laser ablation processing (LAP) for deposition of high TC superconducting thin films has been demonstrated to be relatively simple in practice when compared to some other techniques 1,2. Thus far, however, additional processing is necessary in order to produce electrically continuous, superconducting films. Generally, heated substrates and/or post deposition annealing at elevated temperatures in the presence of oxygen are required. A wide range of substrate temperatures, post deposition annealing temperatures, and annealing times are possible, and a particular set of processing parameters produces films of optimal quality. The optimum processing parameters for a given film/substrate structure is of obvious interest. The range of these parameters which can produce films of near optimum quality is also important since this indicates how critical the processing is