Suface study and fabrication of low-resistivity contacts on Cu-1234 superconductor

Photoemission spectroscopy was used in studying the surface properties of CuBa2Ca3Cu4O12-delta superconducting ceramics. Ultra-high vacuum annealing at temperatures below 150-degrees celsius was conducted to enhance the materials' surface electronic structure for applications in high performance contacts. A contact resistivity as low as 1x10(super -8) ohmcm2 was achieved using the approach.