Organometallic chemical vapor deposition of high T c superconducting films using a volatile, fluorocarbon-based precursor

Abstract

Uniform films of the high Tc superconductor YBa2Cu3O7−δ have been prepared by organometallic chemical vapor deposition using the volatile metalorganic precursors Cu(acetylacetonate)2, Y(dipivaloylmethanate)3, and Ba(heptafluorodimethyloctanedionate)2. With argon as a carrier gas and water vapor as a reactant, film growth rates of 10–30 nm/min are achieved. After annealing under oxygen, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, profilometry, and x-ray diffraction data reveal that such YBa2Cu3O7−δ films on [100] single-crystal MgO have good compositional and dimensional uniformity as well as preferential orientation of crystallite c axes perpendicular to the substrate surface. Four-probe resistivity measurements reveal the onset of superconductivity at ∼90 K and zero resistance by 66.2 K.