Prospects and Problems in Fabrication of MgB2 Josephson Junctions

Kenji UEDA
Michio NAITO

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E88-C    No.2    pp.226-231
Publication Date: 2005/02/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietele/e88-c.2.226
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: INVITED REVIEW PAPER
Category: 
Keyword: 
MgB2,  Josephson junctions,  tunnel junctions,  superconducting electronics,  

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Summary: 
We briefly survey recent developments in the thin film synthesis and junction fabrication of MgB2 toward superconducting electronics. The most serious problem in the thin film synthesis of MgB2 is the high vapor pressure required for phase stability. This problem makes in-situ film growth difficult. However, there has been substantial progress in thin film technology for MgB2 in the past three years. The low-temperature thin-film process in a UHV chamber can produce high-quality MgB2 films with Tc 35 K. Furthermore, technology to produce single-crystal epitaxial MgB2 films has recently been developed by using hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition. With regard to Josephson junctions, various types of junctions have been fabricated, all of which indicate that MgB2 has potential for superconducting devices that operate at 20-30 K, the temperature reached by current commercial cryocoolers.