MICROWAVE CHARACTERIZATION OF SUPERCONDUCTORS

MANY GROUPS WORLD-WIDE ARE STRIVING TO PRODUCE BETTER HIGH TRANSITION TEMPERATURE (HT?C?) SUPERCONDUCTING MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR A LARGE VARIETY OF TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS. ONE OF THE FIRST APPLICATIONS WILL BE THE UTILIZATION OF JOSEPHSON JUNCTION AND RELATED DEVICES, MADE ON WAFERS, AND INTEGRATED WITH ADDITIONAL CIRCUITRY. REGARDLESS WHICH OF THE MANY THIN FILM PREPARATION PROCEDURES CURRENTLY UNDER DEVELOPMENT EMERGES AS MOST PRACTICAL, THERE WILL BE A CONTINUING NEED FOR A SENSITIVE, RAPID, AND ECONOMICAL TESTING PROCEDURE CAPABLE OF DETECTING DEFECTS AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK FOR QUALITY CONTROL, JUST AS IN THE SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY. IN ADDITION, THE INEVITABLE DEMAND FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF VLSI OF COMPLEX CIRCUITRY WILL REQUIRE INSTRUMENTATION CAPABLE OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING WAFER EVALUATION AND INSPECTION WITH HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION. WE PROPOSE THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH TRANSITION TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING WAFER SCANNER (HT?E?-SWS). BY THE COMBINATION OF FIELD-MODULATED MICROWAVE SURFACE IMPEDANCE SPECTROSCOPY AND INNOVATIVE SCANNING METHODOLOGY, WE WILL DEMONSTRATE THE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND FEASIBILITY OF OUR APPROCH IN PHASE I. IN PHASE II WE WILL PRODUCE A PROTOTYPE INSTRUMENT SUITABLE FOR MANUFACTURE AND SALE.