Growth of NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// thin films and fabrication of directly coupled dc SQUID magnetometer

Thin films of NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// were fabricated by off-axis rf sputtering and pulsed laser deposition (PLD) methods. The deposition parameters for thin film fabrication, such as gas pressure, substrate temperature, annealing conditions, and rf power or laser energy density were studied. Highly c-axis oriented thin films with the maximum T/sub c/ (R=0) of 87 K were obtained at the optimum deposition conditions of rf sputtering. It, however, was more difficult to optimize the PLD conditions. The directly coupled dc SQUIDs were fabricated on SrTiO/sub 3/ bi-crystal substrates using single layer NdBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// film grown by PLD method.