The superconducting critical temperature, T(C), of thin Nb films is significantly modified when gold nanoparticles (NPs) are chemically linked to the Nb film, with a consistent enhancement when using 3 nm long disilane linker molecules. The T(C) increases by up to 10% for certain linker length and NP size. No change is observed when the nanoparticles are physisorbed with nonlinking molecules. E...

A hierarchy of models for type-II superconducting thin films is presented. Through appropriate asymptotic limits this hierarchy passes from the mesoscopic Ginzburg-Landau model to the London model with isolated vortices as δfunction singularities, to vortex-density models and finally to macroscopic critical-state models. At each stage it is found that a key nondimensional parameter is Λ = λ2/dL...

High T, superconducting YBazCusO, (YBCO) thin films have been prepared on (305) SrTiOs (STO) substrates. X-ray diffraction analysis and Rutherford backscattering experiments reveal that the c-axis of the layers is directed along the [OOl] ST0 axis. Bragg reflection measurements from YBCO lattice planes with high h, k, and I indices confirm that the film growth is epitaxial and almost single dom...

a cylindrical direct current magnetron sputtering coater with two targets for deposition of multilayer thin films and cermet solar selective surfaces has been constructed. the substrate holder was able to rotate around the target for obtaining the uniform layer and separated multilayer phases. the al/ cu multilayer film was deposited on the glass substrate at the following conditions: working g...

We have developed a superconducting phase gradiometer consisting of two parallel DNA-templated nanowires connecting two thin-film leads. We have ramped the cross current flowing perpendicular to the nanowires, and observed oscillations in the lead-to-lead resistance due to cross-current-induced phase differences. By using this gradiometer we have measured the temperatureand magnetic-field depen...

We show that a chiral (f+if)-wave superconducting pairing may be induced in the lowest heavy hole band of a hole-doped semiconductor thin film through proximity contact with an s-wave superconductor. The chirality of the pairing originates from the 3π Berry phase accumulated for a heavy hole moving along a close path on the Fermi surface. There exist three chiral gapless Majorana edge states, i...

A metastable phase of NbN with superconducting T c =16.4 K was reported recently by Treece and collaborators. The reported structure of the thin film sample deviates from the rocksalt (B1) NbN structure with 25% ordered vacancies on each sublattice (space group Pm3m) and a lattice constant of 4.442Å. Using full potential electronic structure methods, we contrast the electronic structure with th...

The flux penetration near a semicircular indentation at the edge of a thin superconducting strip placed in a transverse magnetic field is investigated. The flux front distortion due to the indentation is calculated numerically by solving the Maxwell equations with a highly nonlinear E j law. We find that the excess penetration can be significantly 50% larger than the indentation radius r0, in c...

The threshold voltage value, which is the most important electrical parameter in modeling MOSFETs, can be extracted from either measured drain current or capacitance characteristics, using a single or more transistors. Practical circuits based on some of the most common methods are available to automatically and quickly measure the threshold voltage. This article reviews and assesses several of...