title: Soft nanostructuring of YBCO Josephson junctions by phase separation.
abstract: We have developed a new method to fabricate biepitaxial YBa2 Cu3 O7-δ (YBCO) Josephson junctions at the nanoscale, allowing junctions widths down to 100 nm and simultaneously avoiding the typical damage in grain boundary interfaces due to conventional patterning procedures. By using the competition between the superconducting YBCO and the insulating Y2 BaCuO5 phases during film growth, we formed nanometer sized grain boundary junctions in the insulating Y2 BaCuO5 matrix as confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Electrical transport measurements give clear indications that we are close to probing the intrinsic properties of the grain boundaries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pettersson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Iandolo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Olsson
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bauch
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lombardi