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The laboratory is equipped with a reel-to-reel deposition system dedicated to the study of medium-long lenghths scalability of the high critical temperature (HTS) superconductor materials deposition process on metallic substrate using the RABiTS method, typically on Ni-based tapes, with the purpose of developing coated conductor-based long length continuously deposited structures . The system is made up by two vacuum chambers respectively equipped with an e-beam and a laser for PLD and they can work separately or together. In this way it is possible to deposit buffer layer and/or superconductor film structures in an "in-situ or ex-situ process".
Each of the vacuum chamber is provided with two reels that can rotate at different speeds, in the same or in opposite directions whith respect to the tape winding direction in order to be able to maintain it always slightly in tension and consequently keep the tape motion plane always perpendicular to the source of the evaporated material. A metallic guide is added, in order to avoid unsought transversal motion during the slide of the tape since the metallic tape thermal expansion induced by heating produces the tape bend and deformation.
As far as heating is concerned, an oven inside which the tape can pass through, is provided and it is externally screened with a metallic screen in which a window allows the income of deposition vapours. The sliding speed, the distance from the source and the parameters of evaporation and ablation determine the quality and the thickness of the obtained films.
Typically with such system, lengths of about ten centimeters are reached.
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