| MgB2 films have been processed by different techniques, the most successful of which include the hybrid physical-chemical vapor deposition (HPCVD) as well as the ex situ high temperature annealing of boron films in Mg vapor. The advantage of the ex situ method is that it allows the coating of MgB2 on large and complex surfaces, such as superconducting radio frequency (RF) cavities. However, it has always been realized that HPCVD films can carry higher J c than the ex situ annealed films. In this research, we succeeded in fabricating high quality MgB2 films by the ex situ annealing technique that produced a Jc value as high as 1.8 x 106 A/cm 2 for 1 mum thick film at 20 K and self-field. This high Jc value is, however, considerably reduced at higher thicknesses similar to that observed in YBCO coated conductors.;In order to understand the mechanisms responsible for J c decrease with increasing film thickness, we studied the Jc behavior as a function of thickness in MgB2 films fabricated by ex situ annealing at 840°C of boron films, grown by chemical vapor deposition, in Mg vapor. The film thickness ranged between 300 nm and 10 mum. The values of Jc for these films ranged from 1.2 x 107 A/cm2 for 300 nm to 1.9 x 105 A/cm2 for 10 mum film thickness at 20 K and self-field. In addition, the results show that critical current (Ic) reaches a maximum value of 728 A/cm width at ∼1 mum thick MgB2 film at 20 K and self-field. These results of Jc and Ic behaviors with higher thickness are interpreted in terms of impurity diffusion during annealing and microstructural degradation for thicker films. |
