Interfacial microstructures in ramp type multilayer Josephson junctions studied by TEM

The microstructures of high T/sub c/ ramp type Josephson junctions were studied by using transmission electron microscopy. The work was emphasized at the interfacial defects and the influence of the ramp slope. The results show that for the ramp slope angles of 15/spl deg//spl sim/40/spl deg/, the epitaxy was still remained through all layers at the ramp region without the formation of big grain boundaries. No amorphous layers and secondary phases were observed at the barrier interfaces. For a gentle ramp junction, small misoriented grains appeared in some portions of the barrier. The substrate ramp formed during the ion etching process had little influence on the growth of the upper layers. In junctions with a steep ramp, defects increased near the interface, although the epitaxy of the barrier was of good quality. The results demonstrate that the slope angle of the junction ramp is an important factor that influences the performance of the Josephson junctions.