Superconductive niobium films coating carbon nanotube fibers

Superconducting niobium (Nb) has been successfully obtained by sputter deposition on carbon nanotube fibers. The transport properties of the niobium coating the fibers are compared to those of niobium thin films deposited on oxidized Si substrates during the same deposition run. For niobium films with thicknesses above 300 nm, the niobium coating the fibers and the thin films show similar normal state and superconducting properties with critical current density, measured at T = 4.2 K, of the order of 10⁵ A cm⁻². Thinner niobium layers coating the fibers also show the onset of the superconducting transition in the resistivity versus temperature dependence, but zero resistance is not observed down to T = 1 K. We evidence by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and current-voltage measurements that the granular structure of the samples is the main reason for the lack of true global superconductivity for thicknesses below 300 nm. (paper)