Superconducting properties of iron chalcogenide thin films

Iron chalcogenides, binary FeSe, FeTe and ternary FeTe_xSe _1-x, FeTe_xS_1-x and FeTe:O_x, are the simplest compounds amongst the recently discovered iron-based superconductors. Thin films of iron chalcogenides present many attractive features that are covered in this review, such as: (i) easy fabrication and epitaxial growth on common single-crystal substrates; (ii) strong enhancement of superconducting transition temperature with respect to the bulk parent compounds (in FeTe _0.5Se_0.5, zero-resistance transition temperature T _c0^bulk = 13.5 K, but T_c0^film = 19 K on LaAlO₃ substrate); (iii) high critical current density (J _c ∼ 0.5 ×10⁶ A cm² at 4.2 K and 0 T for FeTe_0.5Se_0.5 film deposited on CaF₂, and similar values on flexible metallic substrates (Hastelloy tapes buffered by ion-beam assisted deposition) with a weak dependence on magnetic field; (iv) high upper critical field (∼50 T for FeTe_0.5Se_0.5, B_c2(0), with a low anisotropy, γ ∼ 2). These highlights explain why thin films of iron chalcogenides have been widely studied in recent years and are considered as promising materials for applications requiring high magnetic fields (20-50 T) and low temperatures (2-10 K).