Ion implantation in high temperature superconducting films

Reactive ion implantation (RII) has been used to inhibit superconductivity in oxide superconductor materials. By introducing ions which are chemically reactive with oxygen into a high temperature superconductor (HTS) oxide film, the conductivity of the material may be inhibited by the interaction of the implanted ions with the oxygen in the oxide. Both Si and B ions, with doses ranging from 1/spl times/10/sup 15/-1/spl times/10/sup 17//cm/sup 2/, were implanted into epitaxial YBCO films with injection energies ranging from 20-180 keV, depending on the film thickness. The implanted ions do not alter the overall crystal structure of the HTS film, but do inhibit the electrical conductivity and diamagnetism. Multiple ion implantations have also been employed to achieve uniform ion distributions.<>