Ion beam irradiation of cuprate high-temperature superconductors: Systematic modification of the electrical properties and fabrication of nanopatterns

Author(s): Wolfgang Lang, Markus Marksteiner, Marius Bodea, Khurram Siraj, Johannes D. Pedarnig, R. Kolarova, Peter Bauer, Klaus Haselgrübler, Christine Hasenfuss, Igor Beinik, Christian Teichert
Abstract: Irradiation of thin films of the cuprate high-temperature superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) with 75 keV He⁺ ions leads to an exponential increase of the resistivity and a non-linear decrease of the critical temperature. At a fluence above 3 x 10¹⁵ cm^-2 the material becomes semiconducting. Calculations of ion-target interactions using the MARLOWE code indicated that these effects are due to the creation of point defects, primarily by displacing oxygen atoms, and that the lateral broadening of the ion's collision cascades is smaller than 10 nm in a 100 nm thick YBCO film. Irradiating a YBCO film through a silicon stencil mask with minimum aperture of 125 nm placed on top of the sample results in a local modification of its electrical properties. We demonstrate that this technique can be used to produce patterns of sub-100 nm size, visualized by scanning electron microscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy. This simple one-step process does not require the removal of target material and avoids the contamination problems associated with chemical etching and focused ion beam techniques.
Organisation(s): Electronic Properties of Materials
External organisation(s): Johannes Kepler Universität Linz, Montanuniversität Leoben
Journal: Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research. Section B. Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
Volume: 272
Pages: 300-304
No. of pages: 5
ISSN: 0168-583X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2011.01.087
Publication date: 2012
Peer reviewed: Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012: 103009 Solid state physics, 103018 Materials physics
Portal url: https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/ion-beam-irradiation-of-cuprate-hightemperature-superconductors-systematic-modification-of-the-electrical-properties-and-fabrication-of-nanopatterns(0e557c23-194f-42fc-9a4a-61bd9ea6f292).html