New high-temperature superconducting phase spread alloy thin films

We have prepared Gd,-IPrXBa,Cu,O,-, phase spread alloy thin films with well-defined variations in the concentration of Pr across a single substrate. Their Pr concentrations were independently determined from electrical resistivity and Auger electron spectroscopy measurements. The results from both methods are in good agreement with each other. Using this technique several high-temperature superconducting thin-film alloys may be grown under virtually identical conditions. As an example of an important application of this technique, we measured the changes in the films’ resistivities and critical temperatures (r,) induced by decreasing their oxygen concentration. The observed shifts in T, of the oxygen-deficient samples appear to be slightly dependent on their Pr concentrations.