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Title: Superconducting magnesium diboride films for levitation of laser targets

Journal Article · · Thin Solid Films

Inertial confinement fusion targets would benefit from being levitated inside hohlraums to avoid capsule support-related implosion perturbations. Levitation inside a magnetic trap requires coating the capsule with a thin film that is superconducting at 20 K. Such non-epitaxial film growth on non-planar substrates is challenging. Here, we study Mg vapor annealing and solid-phase reactive inter-diffusion methods to form superconducting magnesium diboride (MgB2) films on different planar and spherical carbon substrates, evaluating glassy carbon, polycrystalline diamond made by chemical vapor deposition, and carbon deposited by magnetron sputtering of graphite targets. Thin films of B and Mg are produced by magnetron sputtering onto stationary planar or rolling spherical substrates and annealed at either 600 or 850 °C in Mg vapor. The films are characterized by a combination of high-energy ion scattering, electron microscopy, and magnetometry. Results show that the critical superconducting temperature of resultant films depends on film microstructure and oxygen impurity content. The formation of MgB2 films is also strongly substrate dependent, even in this case of non-epitaxial growth. Important factors to consider are oxygen outgassing of the substrate during thermal processing, substrate surface roughness, and the matching of thermal expansion coefficients of different layers in the multilayer structure.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; 17-ERD-040
OSTI ID:
1647141
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1776254
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-791922; 991112; TRN: US2202684
Journal Information:
Thin Solid Films, Vol. 710; ISSN 0040-6090
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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