Thermodynamic stability and kinetics of Y-Ba-Cu-O film growth at high rates in atomic and molecular oxygen

High temperature superconductor YBa2CU3O7-x thin films have been grown usin g in situ electron beam evaporation at deposition rates over 1-10 nm/s. The higher activity of atomic oxygen is being explored along with molecular ox ygen at reduced pressure (5 x 10(-5) Torr). Preliminary observations indica te that YBa2CU3O7-x is Stable within a band of atomic oxygen flux and tempe rature, similar to that published for YBa2Cu3O7-x in molecular oxygen but m any orders of magnitude lower in flux. The phase equilibrium appears to be different from that found for molecular oxygen at low rates. (C) 2001 Publi shed by Elsevier Science B.V.