Advanced Ceramics Report

November 01, 2002

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University, USA, say that they have found a cheap and simple method for making high-quality films of magnesium diboride (Mg[B.sub.2]).
Led by Xiaoxing Xi, the research team used a heating coil to evaporate lumps of magnesium at about 700[degrees]C. The magnesium vapour then combines with diborane, a gaseous compound of boron and hydrogen, in a high-pressure atmosphere of hydrogen gas, and thin films of Mg[B.sub.2] are deposited on a substrate made of a ceramic such as sapphire or silicon carbide.
Hydrogen is crucially important to the process, say the researchers: it stops magnesia contaminating the films and hindering their superconductivity.
For further information, contact: Xiaoxing Xi; tel: +1-814-863-5350, fax: +1-814-865-3604; E-mail: xxx4@psu.edu; Internet: www.psu.edu

...