Design of experiments for highly reproducible pulsed laser deposition of YBa₂Cu₃O_{7−<i>δ</i>}

Abstract

Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a very versatile tool to deposit thin films from a large variety of materials. Pulsed KrF excimer laser radiation at 248 nm wavelength can be employed to evaporate most oxide materials. Special focus has been put on transferring the stoichiometry of the target to the thin film, which is very important for complex oxides such as the cuprate high-temperature superconductors. For the multilayer deposition of superconducting devices highly reproducible thin films with controlled morphological and electronic properties are required. We report on methods of experimental design for the optimized deposition of YBa2Cu3O7−δ thin films on single crystalline oxide substrates.