Superconductivity in Nb3Ge

The recent report that Nb
3
Ge films can be prepared with superconducting transition temperatures of over 22K has immediately made Nb
3
Ge a very important potential candidate for a variety of large scale applications, such as for example, power transmission lines, or large high field magnets. Short sample data on sputtered films show that Nb
3
Ge possesses an extremely attractive combination of high field properties, competitive with any other presently known material at all temperatures from zero to T
c
. The development of a process capable of being used to fabricate Nb
3
Ge in a useful configuration (i.e., long length of wire or tape) is now being investigated. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a demonstrated commercial process, which may be applicable for this purpose. Our initial CVD studies have yielded films with T
c
's over 21.5K.