Effect of high oxygen pressure annealing on superconducting Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4thin films by pulsed laser deposition from Cu-enriched targets

We show that the quality of Nd 1.85 Ce 0.15 CuO 4 films grown by pulsed laser deposition can be enhanced by using a non-stoichiometric target with extra copper added to suppress the formation of a parasitic (Nd,Ce) 2 O 3 phase.The properties of these films are less dependent on the exact annealing procedure after deposition as compared to films grown from a stoichiometric target.Film growth can be followed by a 1 bar oxygen annealing, after an initial vacuum annealing, while retaining the superconducting properties and quality.This enables the integration of electron-doped cuprates with their hole-doped counterparts on a single chip, to create, for example, superconducting pn-junctions.