Superconductivity in thin films of the heavy-fermion superconductors, UPt/sub 3/ and UBe/sub 13/

Thesis/Dissertation · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6622600

Kang, J

Thin films of the heavy-fermion superconductors, UBe/sub 13/ and UPt/sub 3/ were fabricated by dc sputtering. The growth of superconducting UBe/sub 13/ films was easier than that of UPt/sub 3/ films because of much lower preparation temperature. Superconducting properties of UBe/sub 13/ films were very similar to those of UBe/sub 13/ bulk material. Even though x-ray-diffraction analysis showed that well-ordered UPt/sub 3/ films had been prepared, the superconducting properties of the UPt/sub 3/ films were poor because of the presence of small concentrations of impurity phases. Impurity-phase formation was difficult to deal with because temperatures as high as 1200/sup 0/C were required in the processing and because of the great sensitivity of UPt/sub 3/ to impurities. A difference between UBe/sub 13/ films and bulk materials is the absence of the resistance peak at 2.4 K observed in bulk material in the films, a result that suggests that the resistance peak is unrelated to superconductivity. This is in contrast with a common view that it is. However, the broad maximum in the normal-state resistance found near 20 K was observed. The temperature dependence of the parallel and perpendicular critical magnetic fields of UBe/sub 13/ films were measured.

• Research Organization: Minnesota Univ., Minneapolis (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6622600
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360104* -- Metals & Alloys-- Physical Properties
ACTINIDE ALLOYS
ALLOYS
BERYLLIUM ALLOYS
CRITICAL FIELD
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
FABRICATION
FILMS
IMPURITIES
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLATINUM ALLOYS
PLATINUM METAL ALLOYS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THIN FILMS
URANIUM ALLOYS