YBCO Nanobridges: Simplified Fabrication Process by Using a Ti Hard Mask

An innovative fabrication procedure has been developed to obtain ${\rm YBa}_{2}{\rm Cu}_{3}{\rm O}_{7-{\rm x}}$ (YBCO) nanobridges from c-axis oriented films. The novelty regards the use of a thin titanium mask used in the patterning process. The use of the Ti makes simpler the fabrication procedure guaranteeing high quality devices, as demonstrated by transport measurements. Critical temperatures and critical current densities scale with the width of the microbridge down to 200 nm in agreement with most results available in literature. The actual properties of the devices, performances, yield and reproducibility, along with an accurate control on doping, may allow the use of these micro-bridges for nanoscale experiments.