The superconductivity of disordered aluminium films

Following the observations that the transition to the superconducting state of films condensed on to low temperature (4.20K) substrates may occur at higher temperatures than those recorded for well-annealed films, there has been some interest in the superconducting and structural properties of such films. A characteristic of these quench-condensed films is that they are either entirely amorphous or composed of minute crystallites with dimensions which are on average, typically less than 100 A. The aims of this work were, firstly, to develop the necessary techniques for the fabrication of quench-condensed aluminium films and secondly to record the transitions to the state of zero resistance exhibited by the films as parameters such as temperature, magnetic field and film current were varied. (author)