Superconducting beryllium thin films prepared by ion-beam sputtering

Abstract

Beryllium (Be) thin films with superconducting transition temperature (Tc’s) up to about 6 K can be grown on room-temperature substrates using ion-beam sputtering. In contrast to the evaporation-deposited Be grown on a liquid-helium-cooled substrate, which is also a superconductor, the ion-beam-sputtered Be films show such high thermal stability that the Tc’s exhibit no change by room-temperature annealing for three months.