The goal of this project is to produce thin-film- quality, high-temperature, superconductor (HTSC) sensor and detector leads using a new thick-film process. This process, by using inexpensive processing equipment and starting materials, promises to reduce by several orders of magnitude both the capital equipment investment and projected part costs required to produce thin-film-quality HTSC components. In addition, the process is not substrate-specific and can be used effectively on a variety of substrate materials.
Potential Commercial Applications:The technology would be directly applicable to the fabrication of HTSC interconnects for electronic packaging applications. Such HTSC interconnects are attractive because of increasing interest in cryogenically cooled CMOS devices. "Hybrid" electronic packaging concepts may be possible where superconducting interconnects will be incorporated into cold CMOS systems for an incremental performance advantage with no additional cooling costs.
