Superconducting film key to next-gen electronics

Research scientists in the US have developed a new form of superconductor using layers of ultra thin film.

By using film, the superconductors are easier to manufacture and handle.

The research work, the scientists believe, could help underpin the development of the next generation of power-efficient electrical devices.

"What we have done is we have put together two materials, neither of which is a superconductor, and we found their interface - where they touch - is superconducting," said physicist Ivan Bozovic of the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

"This superconducting layer is extremely thin. It is thinner than one nanometer, which is one billionth of a metre," added Bozovic.

"It opens vistas for further progress, including using these techniques to significantly enhance superconducting properties in other known or new superconductors."

Like their name implies, superconductors are useful because they are extremely efficient at conducting electricity.

If cooled to the material's critical operating temperature, they have no resistance to the flow of electrical current, unlike ordinary electrical wires, which can eventually overheat.

The superconductors used in a magnetic resonance imaging or MRI machine, for example, must be cooled with liquid helium to keep them at four on the Kelvin scale, or near absolute zero minus 452.47 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 269.15 degrees Celsius).

The superconducting film developed by scientists at Brookhaven, however, work at temperatures of 50 Kelvin or minus 369.67 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 223.15 degrees Celsius).

"The practicality of superconductivity depends in some sense on the refrigeration you use to cool it down," Bozovic said.

At 50 Kelvin, the superconducting film is close to the point where it could be cooled inexpensively by liquid nitrogen, which cools to 77 Kelvin or minus 321.07 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 196.15 degrees Celsius).

"It brings us one step closer to producing mass-scale superconducting electronics," he said.

He said the ultimate goal is to develop superconducting materials that could be used at room temperature.

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