Resistivity, Hall effect, and anisotropic superconducting coherence lengths of HgBa₂CaCu₂O₆ thin films with different morphology

Thin films of the high-temperature superconductor HgBa₂CaCu₂O₆ have been prepared on SrTiO₃ substrates by pulsed-laser deposition of precursor films and subsequent annealing in mercury-vapor atmosphere. The microstructural properties of such films can vary considerably and have been analyzed by x-ray analysis and atomic force microscopy. Whereas the resistivity is significantly enhanced in samples with coarse-grained structure, the Hall effect shows little
variation. This disparity is discussed based on models for transport properties in granular materials. We find that, despite of the morphological variation, all samples have similar superconducting properties. The critical temperatures Tc ∼ 121.2 K …122.0 K, resistivity, and Hall data indicate that the samples are optimally doped. The analyses of superconducting order parameter fluctuations in zero and finite magnetic fields yield the in-plane ξ_ab(0) ∼ 2.3 nm …2.8 nm and out-of-plane ξ_c(0) ∼ 0.17 nm …0.24 nm Ginzburg–Landau coherence lengths at zero temperature. Hall measurements provide estimates of carrier scattering defects in the normal state and vortex pinning properties in the superconducting state inside the grains.