Fabrication of RF-sputtered Y-Ba-Cu-O-Ag composite thin films

We report the successful fabrication of Y-Ba-Cu-O-Ag composite thin films using a single-target RF-sputtering method. Y-Ba-Cu-O grains of the composite film are mostly between 1000 A and 2000 A, less than one-tenth the grain size of a typical postannealed polycrystalline Y-Ba-Cu-O film, revealing that the composite film may be useful in fabricating microstrip lines. Zero-resistance temperatures (Tc's) of two Y-Ba-Cu-O-Ag thin films having 1.2 weight% and 6.4 weight% silver are 64 K and 53 K, respectively, which are lower than the Tc's of our Y-Ba-Cu-O thin films prepared without silver. (author)