Ion implantation for superconductor tape fabrication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016160344-A1
Application number	US-201314091510-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 27, 2013
Priority date	Nov 27, 2013
Publication date	Jun 9, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of forming a superconductor tape, includes depositing a superconductor layer on a substrate, forming a metal layer comprising a first metal on a surface of the superconductor layer, and implanting an alloy species into the metal layer where the first metal forms a metal alloy after the implanting the alloy species.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of forming a superconductor tape, comprising:
depositing a superconductor layer on a substrate; forming a metal layer comprising a first metal on a surface of the superconductor layer; and implanting an alloy species into the metal layer, wherein the first metal forms a metal alloy after the implanting of the alloy species.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing the metal layer and superconductor layer as a patterned stack that defines a first pattern on the substrate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a metal tape, the method further comprising continuously drawing the metal tape through an implant zone containing ions of the alloy species during the implanting.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate comprises a substrate base and an intermediate layer that comprises a material having a preferred crystallographic orientation.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising annealing the metal layer after the implanting.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal layer is silver.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the metal layer is a shunt metal layer, the method further comprising depositing a protection metal layer on the shunt metal layer after the implanting.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the alloy species forms a mole fraction of 0.1% to 30% with respect to the metal.

9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the alloy species comprises at least one of Zn, Sn, Zr, Ta, As, Ge, C, B, N, or P.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the implanting the alloy species comprises:
performing a first implant under a first set of conditions; and performing a second implant under a second set of conditions, wherein the second set of conditions differs from the first set of conditions in at least one of species type, ion energy, or ion dose.

11 . A method of processing a superconductor tape, comprising:
providing the superconductor tape as a free standing tape comprising a superconductor layer and a metal layer; directing ions into an implant zone along a first direction; and drawing the superconductor tape through the implant zone along a draw axis perpendicular to the first direction wherein the metal layer is exposed to the ions.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising drawing the superconductor tape between a first reel in a first vacuum chamber and second reel in a second vacuum chamber during the implanting.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the directing the ions comprises directing an ion beam into the implant zone of a beamline, wherein the ion beam has a beam height along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction that is greater than a width of the superconductor tape along the second direction.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
measuring ion dose rate of the ions proximate the superconductor tape; and adjusting velocity of the drawing according to the measured dose rate.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the drawing the comprises drawing the superconductor tape back and forth between the first and second reel during the implanting.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising cooling the superconductor tape during the drawing by drawing the tape over cooling rollers.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
performing a resistivity measurement of the superconductor tape during the implanting; and adjusting tape velocity based on the resistivity measurement.

18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising, during the implanting introducing a gaseous species into the implant zone that is effective to promote reaction between the ions and the metal layer.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the metal layer is a first metal layer disposed on a first side of the superconductor layer and the superconductor tape comprises a second metal layer disposed on a second side of the superconductor layer, and wherein the superconductor tape is in a first orientation when the first metal layer is exposed to the ions, the method further comprising:
flipping orientation of the superconductor tape wherein the second metal layer is exposed to the ions; and drawing the superconductor tape along the draw zone.

20 . An ion implantation apparatus for implanting a tape, comprising:
an implantation chamber to conduct an ion beam along a first direction; a first vacuum chamber disposed on a first side of the implantation chamber and housing a first reel; a second vacuum chamber disposed on a second side of the implantation chamber opposite the first side and housing a second reel wherein the first and second reel are interoperative to draw the tape through the ion beam along a draw direction perpendicular to the first direction.

Assignees

• Varian Semiconductor Equipment

Inventors

• Wang Connie P
• Murphy Paul
• Sullivan Paul
• Godet Ludovic
• Sinclair Frank
• Evans Morgan

Classifications

• C23C14/5806

  Thermal treatment · CPC title

• H01B13/0036

  Details · CPC title

• C23C14/025

  Metallic sublayers · CPC title

• C23C14/48 Primary

  Ion implantation · CPC title

• H01B13/0016

  for heat treatment · CPC title