Fabrication of superconducting YBCO microwave microstrip resonators

Superconducting resonators and filters in the microwave range are being made by thin film technology and used in base stations for wireless communication. The operation of superconducting resonators in perpendicular magnetic fields normally leads to a reduction in the device performance due to energy dissipating by Abrikosov vortices. We fabricated YBCO resonator to eliminate losses due to vortex motion. In order to eliminate vortex induced energy losses for superconducting YBCO resonators, we fabricated YBCO micrositrip resonators with different spatial distributions of nanodecoration by Pd nanodots and micro patterned pinning sites by antidots. In order to provide an engineered surface to get artificial pinning centers in YBCO films, palladium (Pd) nano-islands were decorated on substrate systematically. Systematic effects of Pd additions on the structural and flux pinning properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) films deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) system have been investigated. The evolution of these nano-islands with processing was studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The performance of the surface decorated samples has been qualified by depositing 0.8 μm-thick YBCO films by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The results demonstrate the strong potential of surface decoration by nano-islands for introducing pinning centers into high temperature superconductor applications.