PHOTOELECTRON-SPECTROSCOPY OF EUBA2CU3O7-Y THIN-FILM SURFACES TREATEDBY AN ELECTRON-CYCLOTRON-RESONANCE OXYGEN-ION BEAM

Surface modification of EuBa2Cu3O7-y (EBCO) thin films induced by an e lectron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen ion beam treatment has been s tudied using X-ray and synchrotron-radiation photoelectron spectroscop y (XPS and SRPES). The in situ, characterization has been performed du ring the course of 50 eV ECR oxygen treatment for 30 min. Time-depende nt analysis shows that the contaminant carbon layer on the surface reg ion can be removed at the initial stage of the treatment (<2 min), and that the copper valence of the surfaces can be recovered to CU2+ afte r 30 min treatment. It is found that room-temperature treatment using ECR oxygen can alter the contaminated, oxygen-depleted surface to a cl ean, well-oxygenated surface. The present results suggest that ECR tre atment which can modify the surfaces in a well-defined manner would be a feasible technique for surface cleaning of high-temperature superco nductors.