Abstract
High-Tc superconducting materials, $HoBa_2Cu_3O_{7-x}F_y$ with $0.0{\leq}y{\leq}0.5$, were synthesized by ceramic method and studied by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy and resistivity measurement. From the X-ray diffraction data, it was found that the samples had only single phase of which lattice volumes were decreased in proportional to the amount of fluorine, which indicated that the relatively small fluorine atoms are effectively substituted for the oxygen sites. Also, an anomalous phenomenon appeared that the peak intensities of (001) planes were greatly increased as fluorine contents increased. SEM photographs revealed that the grain sizes were enlarged progressively with fluorine contents. This fact could be explained along with DTA & TGA data that the incorporation of fluorine gave rise to lowering the melting point. Tc decreased as the incorporation of fluorine content increased. This implies that the superconducting electrons are perturbed due to the substitution of electronegative fluorine atom.