GAITHERSBURG, MD – Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology discovered a powerful new plated metal combination that superconducts at easily attained temperatures, paving the way for the next critical steps in the development of cutting-edge supercomputers. The patent-pending material has direct implications for printed circuit boards, the team added.

CIRES chemist and instrument designer Don David and colleagues Dave Pappas and Xian Wu just published the recipe: an ultrathin layer of rhenium sandwiched between layers of gold, each measuring 1/1000th the diameter of a human hair that can superconduct at critical temperature more than 6 Kelvin.

"The sheer magnitude of the critical temperature was unexpected," said David. "We had been thinking for a while about ways to impart superconducting properties to gold and copper films, and we were surprised at how robust and effective the thin layer of electroplated Re was."

The team's electroplated rhenium reportedly meets ideal characteristics desired for use in PCBs for ultrafast, next-generation computing applications: superconducts at higher, easier-to-achieve critical temperatures, easy to work with mechanically, non-toxic, and melts at high temperatures.

The team is now investigating the role of hydrogen incorporation, interfaces, and strain on the enhanced superconducting temperature.

The new paper presents evidence that electroplated rhenium may be the best material found to date for superconductive computer PCB construction, and the electroplating process would be easily scaled-up to mass-production, David said.

The team has applied for a provisional patent.

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