Science and Technology of Thin Film Superconductors

The Conference on the Science and Technology of Thin Film Superconductors was conceived in the early part of 1988 as a forum for the specialist in thin film superconductivity. The conference was held on November 14-18, 1988, in Co lorado Springs, Co lorado. Al though many excellent superconductivity conferences had been convened in the wake of the 1986-1987 discoveries in high temperature superconductivity, thin film topics were often dispersed among the sessions of a more general conference agenda. The response to the Conference on the Science and Technology of Thin Film Superconductors confirmed the need for an extended conference devoted to thin film superconductors. These proceedings are a major contribution to the technnology of thin film superconductivity because of the breadth and quality of the articles provided by leaders in the field. The proceedings are divided into articles on laser deposition, sputtering, evaporation, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, thick film, substrate studies, characterization, patterning and applications, and general properties. Most of the articles discuss scientific issues for high temperature thin film superconductors, although the conference was to be a forum for technology and scientific questions for both low and high temperature superconductivity. For the first day of the 5 day conference, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory had organized an excellent set of short courses in superconduc t ing thin film devices.