wiredinUSA December 2012

INDEX

SDP for STI

Superconductor Technologies Inc has com- pleted acceptance testing of its solution deposition planarization (SDP) system. The equipment has been shipped and received at STI's advanced manufacturing center in Austin. "We expect to have the system completely installed and operational by 2012 year end. Achieving this program milestone positions us to meet the growing demand for our Conductus ® wire in 2013 and begin preparations for commercial production in 2014," said Adam Shelton, STI's VP of marketing and product line management. The SDP and an ion beamassisted deposition (IBAD) machine, installed in April, will be used to produce one kilometer lengths of complete wire template. The template will

then be used in a reactive coevaporation cyclic deposition and reaction (RCE-CDR) system that was installed in October. The RCE-CDR system deposits the HTS material onto the template using STI's proprietary process. For proper growth of superconducting materials, surface conditions must be very smooth. SDP creates a smooth starting surface, while eliminating the need to polish the template, reducing both cost and chemical waste. This process eliminates strong acids associated with electroplating alternatives. STI has produced SDP templates with one nanometer root mean square (RMS) surface roughness starting from unpolished metal tape.

wiredInUSA - December 2012

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