CONTACTS TO YBA2CU3O7-DELTA AND THEIR ELECTRICAL BEHAVIORS

Methods of processing electrical contacts to YBCO have been tested, and two kinds of design of reactive metal contacts have been proposed and investigated aiming to make low-resistivity contacts with high mechanical strength. Three kinds of reactive metal (Ti, Mo, Pd) have been tested in the form of PVD thin film and diffusion-bonded metal contacts. Silver contacts used as references in these experiments give resistivities among the best reported in the literature. The microstructures at the contact interfaces have been studied and a series of computer models has been set up based on the microstructure of the contact interface and the experimental measurement of contact properties to simulate the complicated contact resistivity behaviours