Journal Article written by Patrice Umenne in the department of Electrical and Mining EngineeringIn this paper we report on the development of a new application of the femtosecond laser, namely, the
fabrication of micron, sub-micron and nano sized constrictions on YBCO superconductive thin films. The fabricated
micron, sub-micron and nano constrictions have widths of 1.09 um, 705 nm and 394.8 nm, respectively. The
thickness of these constrictions ranged from about 160 nm to 190 nm, as defined by the depth profile on the 3D
AFM images. The length of these constrictions ranged from 7.2 um to 7.5 um. The length of these constrictions
depends on the size of the laser ablation spot used for cutting and on the separation distance between the laser
ablation spots along the width of the sample.The University of South AfricaCollege of Engineering, Science and Technolog