Superconducting Fe(1+delta)Se(1-x)Te(x) thin films: Growth, characterization and properties

TL;DR

This paper reports the successful growth and characterization of superconducting Fe(1+delta)Se(1-x)Te(x) thin films on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates, highlighting their structural and superconducting properties with optimized deposition conditions.

Contribution

It presents a method for growing high-quality superconducting Fe(1+delta)Se(1-x)Te(x) thin films with controlled properties using pulsed laser deposition.

Findings

Films are epitaxially grown with c-axis orientation.

Superconducting transition temperatures range from 8 to 14 K.

Optimized deposition yields films with properties comparable to bulk materials.

Abstract

Thin films of Fe(1+delta)Se(1-x)Te(x) (delta ~ 0.18 & x ~ 0.5) have been successfully grown on (100) oriented single crystalline SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The crystal structure was characterized by x-ray diffraction, and the superconducting properties by electrical resistivity measurements. X-ray diffraction analysis establishes the epitaxial growth of the films with c-axis orientation. Atomic force microscopy showed a smooth surface morphology for the films grown on SrTiO3 substrates. All the films are observed to be superconducting with a Tc of ~ 8-14 K depending on the deposition conditions. The deposition parameters were optimized to obtain good quality films with Tc comparable to that of the target material.