Ion beam analysis and modification of thin-film, high-temperature superconductors

The application of ion beams to ceramic processing is a very powerful technique. In particular, ion beams have been shown to be very effective in producing novel material properties through their rather violent interactions with the component atoms of the ceramics. However, in all these cases ions are used to process and produce changes in ceramics, changes that must be monitored by other techniques. This paper shows that, in addition to modifying materials, ion beams can be used in a more gentle but very powerful way to explore what happens to a ceramic thin film as a result of processing. The following discussions are concerned exclusively with a new and exciting class of ceramic: the high-temperature superconductor (HTS). We will discuss the application of various ion beam backscattering techniques as well as examine the use of ion implantation in the processing of these materials.