United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Energy Materials Corporation

Herbert E Bates

David F Bliss

David N Jewett

Joseph B Milstein

The edge-defined, film-fed growth technique process is modified to produce a thin ribbon of bi-crystalline sapphire wherein the grain boundary is an essentially straight boundary and the angle is predetermined by selective cutting of the two seeds which are placed closely together during growth. The angle selection is optimized based on the superconducting material to be deposited and the application intended. After the ribbon is pulled, the ribbon is processed by cutting an appropriate section therefrom with the grain boundary. The substrate is polished and the high Tc superconducting material is deposited thereon to produce devices which rely on weak link Josephson junctions.

High Tc superconducting devices on bi-crystal substrates

In a low angle silicon sheet growth process, a puller mechanism advances a seed crystal and solidified ribbon from a cooled growth zone in a melt at a low angle with respect to the horizontal. The ribbon is supported on a ramp adjacent the puller mechanism. Variations in the vertical position of the ribbon with respect to the ramp are isolated from the growth end of the ribbon by (1) growing the ribbon so that it is extremely thin, preferably less than 0.7 mm, (2) maintaining a large growth zone, preferably one whose length is at least 5.0 cm, and (3) spacing the ramp from the growth zone by at least 15 cm.

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Ashby, MA, United States of America

Herbert E Bates