Fabrication of YBCO superconducting microarray by sol-gel process using photosensitive metal chelates

Abstract

We used yttrium acetate, barium acetate, and copper acetate as the starting materials, benzalacetone (BzAcH) as chemical modifier, and methanol (MEOH) as solvent to synthesize a stable fluorine-free YBCO precursor sol. The coated YBCO gel film using this precursor sol exhibited photosensitivity to UV irradiation at a wavelength of 330 nm. After the subsequent exposing, the YBCO gel film showed a decreased solubility in several organic solvents. Based on the photosensitivity of the YBCO/BzAcH gel film, YBCO superconducting microarray with the pitch of 5 μm was fabricated by irradiating the gel film with UV light through a mask, followed by leaching the unirradiated area in a mixture solvent of methanol and n-butyl alcohol with the volume ratio of 1:1. After proper heat treatment the x-ray diffraction result showed that the as-prepared arrays were highly c-axis oriented and with a high Tc by this new photosensitive sol-gel process.