Pulsed-laser deposition of Pr2-xCexCuO4-y thin films and the effect of high-temperature post-annealing

High-quality epitaxial Pr2-xCexCuO4-y thin films were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition using N2O reactive gas. The deposition parameters for the films were optimized for each of the 11 investigated Ce concentrations. The optimized thin films show sharp superconducting transitions in AC magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity. We find that Ce can be incorporated up to a concentration of x = 0.23 without appearance of impurity phases. We also present and discuss the structural and superconducting properties of our films after a high-temperature post-annealing treatment claimed by Brinkmann et al. to reduce Pr2-xCexCuO4-y single crystals more effectively. We did not observe bulk superconductivity in films with x less than or equal to 0.10 under any annealing conditions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.