Neutron irradiation of sputtered NbN films

Conference · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

OSTI ID:6792289

Weber, H W; Gregshammer, P; Gray, K E; Kampwirth, R T

In addition to the excellent high-field superconducting properties of NbN, it is the strain and radiation tolerance, measured in bulk NbN, which makes the material so attractive for large high-field magnets, especially for fusion applications. We report neutron irradiation experiments on sputtered NbN films, up to a fluence of 10/sup 23/ m/sup /minus/2/ (E > 0.1 MeV, which prove that NbN films are also extremely radiation-hard high-field superconductors. Both the transition temperatures, T/sub c/, and the normal state resistivities show only small changes with neutron fluence. Concerning the critical current densities j/sub c/, degradations by as much as 30% are observed at low fields, whereas in an intermediate field range (11--15 T) virtually no change of j/sub c/ and at high fields near 20 T even an increase of j/sub c/ are found. The latter observation is ascribed to a radiation-induced increase of the upper critical field, B/sub c2/, and to the occurrence of peak effects near B/sub c2/. 14 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 6792289
• Report Number(s): CONF-880812-11; ON: DE89000542
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

420201 -- Engineering-- Cryogenic Equipment & Devices
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700209* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Component Development & Materials Testing
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CRITICAL CURRENT
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CURRENTS
DAMAGING NEUTRON FLUENCE
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT
ELECTROMAGNETS
EQUIPMENT
FILMS
MAGNETS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NEUTRON FLUENCE
NIOBIUM COMPOUNDS
NIOBIUM NITRIDES
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PNICTIDES
RADIATION EFFECTS
REFRACTORY METAL COMPOUNDS
SPUTTERING
SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES
SUPERCONDUCTING FILMS
SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE