Oxygen doping of the high T/sub c/ superconducting perovskites

Oxygen defect perovskites are studied because of their ability to reversibly intercalate oxygen atoms. Our previous studies of the La/sub 2-y/Sr/sub y/CuO/sub 4-x/ system shows that T/sub c/ is dramatically affected by subtle changes in oxygen content. However since this study did not achieve large values of x, a systematic study was not undertaken. The authors have found by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) that a wide range of oxygen non-stoichiometry in the 90K superconductor YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ is obtainable. This study of the effect of oxygen doping on the transport properties of the 40K material, and a systematic analysis of this over a broader range in the 90K superconductor is presented