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Advances in Condensed Matter Physics
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 989732, 9 pages
doi:10.1155/2011/989732
Molecular-Beam Epitaxially Grown MgB2 Thin Films and Superconducting Tunnel Junctions
1Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, MIT, 160 Albany Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
2Department of Physics, Ewha Womans University, 11-1 Dae Hyun-Dong, Soe Dae Moon-Gu, Seoul 120-750, Republic of Korea
Received 2 February 2011; Accepted 4 April 2011
Academic Editor: Victor V. Moshchalkov
Copyright © 2011 Jean-Baptiste Laloë et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Since the discovery of its superconducting properties in 2001, magnesium diboride has generated terrific scientific and engineering research interest around the world. With a of 39 K and two superconducting gaps, MgB2 has great promise from the fundamental point of view, as well as immediate applications. Several techniques for thin film deposition and heterojunction formation have been established, each with its own advantages and drawbacks. Here, we will present a brief overview of research based on MgB2 thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy coevaporation of Mg and B. The films are smooth and highly crystalline, and the technique allows for virtually any heterostructure to be formed, including all-MgB2 tunnel junctions. Such devices have been characterized, with both quasiparticle and Josephson tunneling reported. MgB2 remains a material of great potential for a multitude of further characterization and exploration research projects and applications.