Structural Changes and Transport Properties of YBa 2Cu 3O 7 Locally Modified by a He+ Focused Ion Beam

Irradiation of a material with ions can cause various defects that can lead to structural phase transitions and the modification of the material's properties. Here we study the irradiation of the epitaxyally grown thin films of the high-temperature superconductor YBa 2Cu 3O 7 with 30, keV He+ ions which leads to the expansion of the crystal lattice, decrease of the critical temperature T c and eventually transition to an insulator. Fabrication of such insulating regions with a focused He-Ion beam with a spot size of about 10, nm is a powerful technique for fabrication of superconducting nano-devices. Using low-temperature resistivity measurements, diffraction with a nanofocused X-ray beam and atomic force microscopy, we investigated how the structure and the electric transport properties of YBa 2Cu 3O 7 depend on the irradiation dose in a range 10 -- 100, ions/nm squared and on the lateral size of the irradiated area in a range 30 -- 5000, nm.