Low contact-resistivity junctions to ceramic superconductors

A report is presented on the development of a plasma-arc spray process for the application of low-resistivity silver contact junctions onto YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ sintered ceramic materials. The contact resistances decrease montonically with decreasing temperature and are typically approximately 10/sup -8/ Omega -cm/sup 2/ at 75 K. I-V characteristics are linear up to a critical current density that agrees with that of the underlying superconducting material. Advantages over other contact methods include ease of application, absence of any postprocessing treatment, and applicability to large areas and arbitrary shapes. >