A new method of fabricating HTS tape coil

High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) materials can introduce substantial improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of images for small-size sample or low-field MRI system (<1T) [1]. Expensive HTS thin film is typically used for making receiver surface coils for substantial SNR improvements [2]. A 5-inch HTS tape coil using silver-alloy sheathed Bi-2223 tape was first developed [3], which allows easier fabrication, frequency adjustment and lower cost than thin films. Imaging using small-size HTS tape coil has been shown to yield significant SNR improvement at 3T [4], but its fabrication is limited by relatively large recoil force experienced by etched HTS tape, which leads to bending and even cracking of filaments, thus degrades its performance. In our work, a new method of fabricating HTS tape coil is demonstrated.