Scientific Reports (Jun 2022)

NbN films on flexible and thickness controllable dielectric substrates

  • Hongkai Shi,
  • Lanju Liang,
  • Yi Huang,
  • Han Bao,
  • Biaobing Jin,
  • Zhihe Wang,
  • Xiaoqing Jia,
  • Lin Kang,
  • Weiwei Xu,
  • Jian Chen,
  • Peiheng Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-14861-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract A simple method for preparing superconducting NbN thin films on flexible dielectric substrates with controllable thickness was developed. The structure and surface characteristics and superconducting properties of the flexible film were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and physical property measurement system (PPMS). We found that NbN films on the flexible substrate show certain preferred orientations through the self-buffering effect of the amorphous NbN layer. The zero resistance superconducting transition temperature (TC0) for 10 nm thick NbN films is 8.3 K, and the TC0 for 30 nm thick NbN films in a magnetic field of 9 T remains above 7 K. This flexible film can be transferred to any substrate and adapted to different shape applications. It can also be further processed into single-layer or multilayer flexible superconducting devices.