APPLICATIONS OF CERAMIC SUPERCONDUCTORS IN ELECTRONICS

The recent discovery of high-transition-temperature superconducting ceramic oxides operating at liquid-nitrogen temperatures offers much-more-promising opportunities for the diffusion of supcrconductive technologies in the field of electronic devices. In this paper, the state of the art of high-T(c) thin-film-synthesis techniques is briefly reviewed with particular emphasis on in-situ physical-vapour-deposition (PVD) processes. The main results achieved so far in the direction of practical widespread applications of high-T(c) SQUID sensors and microwave components and the main physical and technological problems to be solved on this route are then presented and discussed.