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Normal State Properties and Upper Critical Magnetic Field in Three-dimensional Polycrystalline Niobium Films

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Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) niobium (Nb) films have been deposited on quartz substrates by changing substrate temperature or film thickness. The relationship of \(\rho\) and T in metallic film satisfies the Bloch–Gruneisen (B-G) theory with T expanding from 300 K to 10 K. The global superconductivity of Nb film disappeared by increasing the perpendicular magnetic field, because the superconducting state was destroyed by the increased magnetic field. The upper critical magnetic field \(H_{c2}\) changes with temperature linearly, except for that at temperature near superconducting transition temperature \(T_c\). The value of \(H_{c2}\)(0) obtained by linear fit was as large as 9.07 T in the film of grain size of 26.8 nm. This maximum of \(H_{c2}\)(0) was found to increase by 3.2 times of bulk Nb value, more than 2.5 times reported earlier. This can be ascribed to the small grain size of the film. A portion of the applied magnetic energy may affect superconductivity due to some magnetic field penetrating into the grains.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Innovate Foundation for Doctor of Tangshan University (Grant No. 1402002). The authors are thankful to Prof. Zhi-Qing Li, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, Department of Physics, Tianjin University, China.

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  1. Department of Basic Education, Tangshan University, Tangshan, 063000, China

    Xiu-Zhi Duan

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials Physics and Preparing Technology, Department of Physics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300354, China

    Zhi-Hao He

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Duan, XZ., He, ZH. Normal State Properties and Upper Critical Magnetic Field in Three-dimensional Polycrystalline Niobium Films. J Supercond Nov Magn 34, 2517–2522 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-021-05916-9

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