Ion beam analysis of composition and impurities in YBa2Cu3O7−δ and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10−δ superconductor thin films

Abstract We have measured the hydrogen impurity in YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7− δ (YBCO) films by 2.5 MeV He elastic recoil detection (ERD). The carbon was also detected in YBCO and Bi 2 Sr 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 10− δ (Bi-2223) films, using 12 C( 3 He,p) 14 N nuclear reaction analysis (NRA). For YBCO films, a trend of T c degradation with increasing H concentration was found similarly to the case of Bi-2223 films. No clear relation was found between the carbon concentration and T c in both YBCO and Bi-2223 films. Composition, especially oxygen concentration, can be determined to an accuracy of 3%, by proton non-Rutherford scattering.