Sputtered nanodots: A costless method for inducing effective pinning centers in superconducting thin films

A straightforward and cheap method for creating extended defects, strong pinning centers, in superconducting thin films is proposed. Clearly, by very short time (3–5 s) rf sputtering at suitable substrate temperatures, we deposited Ag nanodots on SrTiO3 substrates prior to the growth of superconducting thin films. The nanodots were studied by atomic force microscopy. Due to the lattice mismatch and/or chemical poisoning, on top of the nanodots the superconducting phase does not form, creating in this way extended and effective pinning centers which increase the critical current density of the film. The method was applied to (Cu, Tl)BaSrCa2Cu3Oy films grown by amorphous phase epitaxy. Thin films grown in similar conditions, with and without nanodots, were characterized by x-ray diffraction and ac susceptibility. The results show that the nanodots increased the critical current density more than one order of magnitude.