<title>Contribution of ion beam analysis to study the mechanisms of YBaCuO thin film growth and their oxidation kinetics</title>

Abstract

At first a short review of ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques such as Rutherford backscattering analysis, nuclear reaction analysis and of their contribution to the determination of composition and structure of YBaCuO thin films is presented. In the second part, IBA contribution to the measurements of oxygen content and mobility in YBaCuO and to elucidate the mechanisms of high temperature 'in situ' growth of thin films is discussed. The emphasis is on the complementarity of IBA, Raman spectroscopy, TEM and XRD techniques to characterize the YBaCuO thin films in correlation with their physical properties. The results show that fully oxygenated YBaCuO thin films are formed 'in situ' during high temperature T less than or equal to 750 degrees Celsius, reactive sputtering. Their room temperature oxygen content and order is determined by oxygen loss and or uptake during the sample cooling conditions. The physical implications of these findings are analyzed.