# US 2006/0124050 A1 · Method of manufacturing doped superconducting materials

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- Number: US 2006/0124050 A1
- Document ID: US20060124050A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 10/560,284
- Filed: 2004-06-07
- Published: 2006-06-15
- Earliest claimed: 2003-06-11
- Assignees: Colin Tarrant; Kelvin Schneider
- Inventors: Colin Tarrant; Kelvin Schneider; David Cardwell; Nadendla Babu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20060124050A1

## CPC

- C30B 29/225: {based on rare earth copper oxides, e.g. high T-superconductors}
- C30B 9/00: Single-crystal growth from melt solutions using molten solvents (by normal or gradient freezing C30B11/00; by zone-melting C30B13/00; by crystal pulling C30B15/00; on immersed seed crystal C30B17/00; by liquid phase epitaxial growth C30B19/00; under a protective fluid C30B27/00)
- C30B 17/00: Single-crystal growth onto a seed which remains in the melt during growth, e.g. Nacken-Kyropoulos method (C30B15/00 takes precedence)
- C30B 29/22: Complex oxides
- Y10S 505/781: Noble metal, i.e. Ag, Au, Os, Ir, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd or chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt or nickel
- C30B: SINGLE-CRYSTAL GROWTH (by using ultra-high pressure, e.g. for the formation of diamonds, B01J3/06); UNIDIRECTIONAL SOLIDIFICATION OF EUTECTIC MATERIAL OR UNIDIRECTIONAL DEMIXING OF EUTECTOID MATERIAL; REFINING BY ZONE-MELTING OF MATERIAL (zone-refining of metals or alloys C22B); PRODUCTION OF A HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE (casting of metals, casting of other substances by the same processes or devices B22D; working of plastics B29; modifying the physical structure of metals or alloys C21D, C22F); SINGLE CRYSTALS OR HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE; AFTER-TREATMENT OF SINGLE CRYSTALS OR A HOMOGENEOUS POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIAL WITH DEFINED STRUCTURE (for producing semiconductor devices or parts thereof H10); APPARATUS THEREFOR
- Y10S: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS

## Abstract

The invention provides a method of manufacturing a doped i X—Ba—Cu-0 material, the method comprising the steps of: a) mixing an X—Ba-L-0 or X—Ba—Cu-L-0 material with an X-1 Ba—Cu—O material; and b) crystallising the mixture; 1 wherein each X is independently selected from a rare earth (Group IIIB) element, yttrium, a combination of rare earth elements, or a combination of yttrium and a rare earth element; and L is selected from U, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, Zr, Hf, Ag, Pt, Ru and Sn. The invention further provides a doped material manufactured by the method of the invention.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material, the method comprising the steps of:
a) mixing an X—Ba-L-O or X—Ba—Cu-L-O material with an X—Ba—Cu—O material; and
b) crystallising the mixture;
wherein
each X is independently selected from a rare earth (Group IIIB) element, yttrium, a combination of rare earth elements, or a combination of yttrium and a rare earth element; and each L is one or more elements selected from U, Nb, Ta, Mo, W, Zr, Hf, Ag, Pt, Ru and Sn.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the X—Ba—Cu-L-O and X—Ba-L-O material comprise material of general formula:
XwBaxCuyLtOz
wherein each X and L is as defined hereinabove; and wherein
w is 1 to 4; x is 1 to 6; y is 0 to 4; t is 0.3 to 2; and z is 3 to 20.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the X—Ba—Cu—O material comprises material of the general formula
XaBabCucOd
wherein each X is as defined hereinabove, and wherein
a is 1 to 4; b is 1 to 6; c is 0.5 to 4; d is 3 to 20.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1, wherein each X is independently selected from one or more of Y, Nd, Sm, Ga, Eu and Ho.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein w is 1, 2 or 3; x is 2 to 4; y is 0.1 to 1 for X—Ba—Cu-L-O materials; t is 0.5 to 1; and z is 4 to 15.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 2, wherein a is 1, 2 or 3; b is 2 to 4; c is 1 to 3; and d is 4 to 15.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the XaBabCucOd is added in step (a) to an amount of at least 50% w/w of the mixture.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the XwBaxCuyLtOz is added in step (a) to an amount of at least 0.01% w/w of the total weight of the mixture produced in step (a).

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the XwBaxCuyLtOz is a solid.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the XaBabCucOd is in a molten or liquid form, and/or the method comprises a step prior to step (a)of substantially melting the XaBabCucOd.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein step (b) comprises single crystallisation.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 11 wherein step (b) comprises crystallisation as a mixture of XwBaxCuyLtOz in molten XaBabCucOd.

### Claim 13 (depends on 11)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 11 wherein step (b) comprises providing in a receptable a mixture of XaBabCucOd and XwBaxCuyLtOz; melting the mixture; providing a seed or key to the receptacle; and subsequently manipulating the temperature of, or in the region of, the seed or key, to induce crystallisation of the molten mixture.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 13 wherein the XaBabCucOd and XwBaxCuyLtOz is added to the receptacle in solid form and the mixture melted.

### Claim 15 (depends on 13)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 13 wherein the XaBabCucOd is melted in the receptacle and solid XwBaxCuyLtOz is added to the molten material.

### Claim 16 (depends on 13)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 13 wherein the seed or key is added to the molten mixture or added prior to melting the mixture.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 16 wherein the seed or key is preferably a crystal of compatible crystallographic and chemical structure to the XaBabCucOd.

### Claim 18 (depends on 16)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 16 wherein the seed crystal is the identical XaBabCucOd material or XaBabCucOd material with a different X atom to the XaBabCucOd material being crystallised.

### Claim 19 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 wherein the resultant doped X—Ba—Cu—O crystal is annealed at between 400° C. and 700° C.

### Claim 20 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 further comprising mixing Y2O3 with the mixture produced in step (a).

### Claim 21 (depends on 1)

A method of manufacturing a doped X—Ba—Cu—O material as claimed in claim 1 further comprising adding Pt to the mixture produced in step (a).

### Claim 22 (depends on 1)

A doped material manufactured by the method of claim 1.