Effect of sputtering induced oxygen plasma on recovery of EuBa2Cu3Ox films

Activated oxygen plasma (AOP) annealing has been proposed as a recovery tre atment in a decompressed oxygen atmosphere. As-sputtered EuBa2Cu3O7 (EBCO) thin films with a T-c endpoint (T-ce) of 90 K were used for deterioration a nd recovery treatments. The removal and recovery for oxygen atoms was clari fied from in-situ measurements of electrical resistance (R). The AOP anneal ing had a better recovery effect than pure oxygen annealing. AOP recovery c onditions of annealing temperature (T-sa) of 450-700 degreesC, plasma expos ure and annealing time (t(p)) of more than 40 min, and oxygen pressure (Po- 2((pc))) of more than 200 Pa were found to be appropriate. The AOP diffused around to the back side of a shutter, even one of 15 cm in radius, and dif fused to a gap distance of 0.1 cm between the dim and the shutter, restorin g the degraded films to the high-quality characteristics.