Stoichiometry and thickness dependence of superconducting properties of niobium nitride thin films

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4940132· OSTI ID:22489804

Beringer, Douglas B.; Burton, Matthew C.; Yang, Kaida; Lukaszew, R. Alejandra ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, The College of William & Mary, Small Hall, 300 Ukrop Way, Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 (United States)

The current technology used in linear particle accelerators is based on superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities fabricated from bulk niobium (Nb), which have smaller surface resistance and therefore dissipate less energy than traditional nonsuperconducting copper cavities. Using bulk Nb for the cavities has several advantages, which are discussed elsewhere; however, such SRF cavities have a material-dependent accelerating gradient limit. In order to overcome this fundamental limit, a multilayered coating has been proposed using layers of insulating and superconducting material applied to the interior surface of the cavity. The key to this multilayered model is to use superconducting thin films to exploit the potential field enhancement when these films are thinner than their London penetration depth. Such field enhancement has been demonstrated in MgB{sub 2} thin films; here, the authors consider films of another type-II superconductor, niobium nitride (NbN). The authors present their work correlating stoichiometry and superconducting properties in NbN thin films and discuss the thickness dependence of their superconducting properties, which is important for their potential use in the proposed multilayer structure. While there are some previous studies on the relationship between stoichiometry and critical temperature T{sub C}, the authors are the first to report on the correlation between stoichiometry and the lower critical field H{sub C1}.

• OSTI ID: 22489804
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Vol. 34, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2016 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0734-2101
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COPPER
CRITICAL FIELD
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM BORIDES
NIOBIUM
NIOBIUM NITRIDES
PENETRATION DEPTH
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
STOICHIOMETRY
SUPERCONDUCTORS
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS