Resistivity, Hall effect, and anisotropic superconducting coherence lengths of HgBa$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{6+\delta}$ thin films with different morphology

TL;DR

This study investigates how microstructural variations in HgBa$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{6+\delta}$ thin films affect their electrical and superconducting properties, revealing consistent critical temperatures and coherence lengths despite morphological differences.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the relationship between film morphology and superconducting parameters, including resistivity, Hall effect, and coherence lengths, in high-temperature superconductor thin films.

Findings

Resistivity varies with microstructure, but Hall effect remains stable.

All samples exhibit similar critical temperatures around 121-122 K.

Superconducting coherence lengths are approximately 2.3-2.8 nm in-plane and 0.17-0.24 nm out-of-plane.

Abstract

Thin films of the high-temperature superconductor HgBa$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{6+\delta}$ have been prepared on SrTiO$_3$ substrates by pulsed-laser deposition of precursor films and subsequent annealing in mercury-vapor atmosphere. The microstructural properties of such films can vary considerably and have been analyzed by x-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy. Whereas the resistivity is significantly enhanced in samples with coarse-grained structure, the Hall effect shows little variation. This disparity is discussed based on models for transport properties in granular materials. We find that, despite of the morphological variation, all samples have similar superconducting properties. The critical temperatures $T_c \sim 121.2$ K $\dots 122.0$ K, resistivity, and Hall data indicate that the samples are optimally doped. The analyses of superconducting order parameter fluctuations in zero and finite magnetic fields yield the in-plane $\xi_{ab}(0) \sim 2.3$ nm $\dots 2.8$ nm and out-of-plane $\xi_{c}(0) \sim 0.17$ nm $ \dots 0.24$ nm Ginzburg-Landau coherence lengths at zero temperature. Hall measurements provide estimates of carrier scattering defects in the normal state and vortex pinning properties in the superconducting state inside the grains.