Thickness Dependence and Enhancement of $H_{{\rm C}1}$ in Epitaxial $\hbox{MgB}_{2}$ Thin Films

Thin film MgB
₂
is a promising material for technical improvements in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) technology and applications. At present, bulk niobium SRF accelerating cavities suffer from a fundamental upper limit in maximally sustained accelerating gradients; however, a scheme involving multilayered superstructures consisting of superconducting-insulating-superconducting (SIS) layers has been proposed to overcome this fundamental material limit of 50 MV/m. The SIS multilayer paradigm is reliant upon implementing a thin shielding material with a suitably high HC1, which may prevent early field penetration in a bulk material layer and consequently delay the high field breakdown. It has been predicted that for thin superconducting films - thickness less than the London penetration depth ( ~ 120 nm in the case of MgB
₂
) - the lower critical field
H
_C1
can be enhanced with decreasing thickness. Thus, MgB
₂
, with a high
T
_C
and relatively low
H
_C1
value, as compared with Nb, is a prime candidate for such SIS structures. Here we present our study on the microstructure, surface morphology, and superconducting properties on a thickness series of MgB
₂
thin films and correlate the effects of film thickness and surface morphology on
H
_C1
.