The effect that oxygen stoichiometry has on the physical properties of
high critical temperature superconductors is well documented. For a g
eneral understanding of the conditions necessary for processing high c
ritical temperature superconducting materials, phase equilibrium diagr
ams have been quite useful; however, such diagrams provide no informat
ion concerning the time required to oxygenate superconducting structur
es. In this paper, we present experimental results that clearly demons
trate the relationships among phase equilibrium diagrams, oxygen diffu
sion coefficients and grain sizes with the time required to ''adequate
ly'' oxygenate high critical temperature superconducting materials and
device structures. While oxygen processing of the high critical tempe
rature superconductor, YBa2Cu3O7-delta, is, is emphasized throughout t
his paper, the concepts and relationships discussed herein, in general
, can be applied to the oxygen processing of other high critical tempe
rature superconductors including the Hg and Tl based systems.