The electron-beam irradiation on the high temperature superconducting thin films

Abstract

Low-temperature scanning electron microscopy (LTSEM) is a promising measuring technique for probing the spatial distribution of the superconducting properties of the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) thin films. A theoretical analysis of the electron-beam irradiation on the HTS thin films in the LTSEM has been carried out. An inhomogeneously distributed grain array model has been applied in the analysis, and some numerical simulations have been carried out on the electron-beam induced voltage (EIV) signals in the LTSEM experiments. The comparisons of our numerical results with the LTSEM experimental data indicate that it is quite reasonable to use a two-dimensional Josephson junction array for stimulating the inhomogeneous HTS thin film sample. Our numerical results also show that the EIV signals are influenced by the electron-beam power used in the LTSEM, and a reduction of the electron-beam power is suggested in order to eliminate the errors in estimating the local values of critical temperature Tc and critical current Ic by the sample temperature and the bias current at which the first EIV signal occurs.