France Telecom’s CNET laboratoryis claiming a new breakthrough in high-temperature thin film superconductors, intended for use in very fast switching devices and semiconductor circuits: the Bagneux laboratory says it achieved zero resistance through its Bismuth-based superconductor material at temperatures up to minus 166oC – 30oC above the boiling point of liquid Nitrogen; high-temperature superconductivity can be categorised into two main classes – superconductivity up to minus 193oC and at up to minus 166oC; what makes its news interesting, says CNET, is that its best films contain 85% of the second type while only a minority of the constituents of films in development in Japan and the US superconduct at this temperature.
