Regulation of superconductivity in Nb thin films induced by interstitial oxygen atoms

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/adb26c

Abstract The regulation of superconductivity in thin films can provide important information on low-dimensional superconducting properties, and also has important reference values for the application in superconducting devices. Herein, we report the successful regulation of both the superconductivity and normal-state properties of Nb films in a wide range by the controllable introduction of interstitial oxygen atoms. The lattice parameter is enhanced for an extent as large as 4.4%, and the normal-state resistivity $\rho_{\rm n}$ is tuned for more than 15 times. The slope of upper critical field near $T_{\rm c}$ shows a close correlation with $\rho_{\rm n}$ in a wide range. Importantly, it is found that the suppression of $T_{\rm c}$ by disorder reveals a linear dependence with $\rho_{\rm n}$ in the region with an unchanged crystalline quality, which can be understood based on the picture of three-dimensional ballistic motion.

Keywords: Nb film regulation of superconductivity upper critical field

Received: 12 December 2024
Revised: 14 January 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 05 February 2025

PACS:	74.70.-b	(Superconducting materials other than cuprates)
	74.78.-w	(Superconducting films and low-dimensional structures)
	74.25.Op	(Mixed states, critical fields, and surface sheaths)
	74.62.Bf	(Effects of material synthesis, crystal structure, and chemical composition)

Fund: Project supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB0670000), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2023YFB4404904), the Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2020B0303030002), and the Autonomous Deployment Project of State Key Laboratory of Materials for Integrated Circuits (Grant No. SKLJC-Z2024-B04).

Corresponding Authors: Gang Mu, Zhi-Rong Lin
E-mail: mugang@mail.sim.ac.cn;zrlin@mail.sim.ac.cn

Cite this article:

Yuchuan Liu(刘钰川), Ming Yang(杨明), Yun Fan(范云), Zulei Xu(徐祖磊), Yu Wu(吴禹), Yixin Liu(刘以鑫), Wei Peng(彭炜), Gang Mu(牟刚), and Zhi-Rong Lin(林志荣) Regulation of superconductivity in Nb thin films induced by interstitial oxygen atoms 2025 Chin. Phys. B 34 047401

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Regulation of superconductivity in Nb thin films induced by interstitial oxygen atoms

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