New deposition method of MgB thin film with thermal evaporation of Mg and sputtering of B

We are now developing a new in situ deposition process for MgB film as a candidate method to mass-produce MgB thin film superconducting tape. In the new method, a MgB film is deposited on a heated metal substrate by a hybrid deposition method, which consists of thermal evaporation of magnesium and sputtering of boron. By using the hybrid deposition method, the substrate temperature can raise from 250 to 350 °C, while its fluctuation is kept less than 1 °C, which will improve the quality and reproducibility of MgB film in mass production. The J of MgB film deposited by the hybrid deposition method at 20 K and self-field was more than 30,000 A mm, which was better than the results reported by the two-step in situ process using DC sputtering and 830 °C high-temperature post annealing [1] or by the as-grown depostion using sputttering targets of Mg and B [2]. Although we obtained better J than other deposition methods that use sputtering process, the J is still lower than the value we obtained by using a co-evaporation method with electron beam (EB). We investigated the film structure and J -B-T properties of the film made by the hybrid deposition method and compared them with those of the film made by co-evaporation. From the analysis results, we think the reasons for the lower J are the larger amount of heterogeneous phases such as magnesium oxides in the film and the amorphous B phase under the MgB. We expect to improve the the crystal qualities and superconductivities of the MgB film deposited by the new method by removing impurities in Ar gas during sputtering and thinning the B amorphous phase by increasing the Mg deposition rate in the initial stage of deposition.