Progress in the co-evaporation technologies developed for high performance REBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ films and coated conductors

In this review article, we focus on various co-evaporation technologies developed for the fabrication of high performance REBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (RE: Y and Rare earth elements, REBCO) superconducting films. Compared with other manufacturing technologies for REBCO films such as sputtering, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), metal-organic deposition (MOD), and metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), the co-evaporation method has a strong advantage of higher deposition rate because metal sources can be used as precursor materials. After the first attempt to produce REBCO films by the co-evaporation method in 1987, various co-evaporation technologies for high performance REBCO films have been developed during last several decades. The key points of each co-evaporation technology are reviewed in this article, which enables us to have a good insight into a new high throughput process, called as a Reactive Co-Evaporation by Deposition and Reaction (RCE-DR).