Special Issue

Superconductivity〉〉Company Profile

Introduction of SuperPower Inc.
Gene Carota*, Yifei Zhang*, Bernice Ruzzo*, Kota Katayama*, Shinya Yasunaga*,Hideyuki Ikeda*, Hisaki Sakamoto*, Jun Goto*, Tetsu Tateishi *INTRODUCTION
1.1. INTRODUCTION

2.

We are located in Schenectady County, New York, USA,and are responsible for research, development, and manufacturing of High Temperature Superconductor (HTS)
wires, as well as research and development of production
and application technologies. In February 2012, webecame a member of Furukawa Electric Group fromPhilips Corporation, and since then we have been supplying superconducting wires for superconducting cables
and high field magnet (for MRI, NMR, etc.) as a top runner in HTS wire providers, while dispatching expatriatesfrom Furukawa Electric.
Currently, we are a small company with 47 employees,
including 6 Japanese expatriates, 2 expatriates from
Hungary (Furukawa Electric Institute of Technology), 7
American engineers, and 1 Italian engineer, but we aim togrow several times in size in the next 5 years and areengaged in global and dynamic work as a member ofFurukawa Electric Group.

FEATURES OF SUPERPOWER’S HTSWIRESOur HTS wires are manufactured by depositing multilayer
thin films on 30 µm or 50 µm thick Hastelloy alloy tapes.
Precise orientation control during crystal growth of RareEarth Barium Copper Oxide (REBCO) thin films, which arehigh temperature superconductors, is important for theirperformance. We manufacture high performance HTS
wires by forming a biaxially-textured buffer layer using Ion
Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) and depositing a superconducting film on it using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor
Deposition (MOCVD) method. The width of the wire canbe 2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, or 12 mm based on the customer’s requirements, and the thickness of the copper stabilizing layer is 20 µm as a standard, but can range from 5µm to 50 µm (Figure 1).
We have released a new product (product code HM)
with high performance in low temperature and high magnetic field operating environments starting in 2022. Most
recently, the product has been recognized for its performance in ultra-high field magnetic applications required
for a plasma demonstration reactor project for compact

Electroplating

Copper Stabilizer

Sputtering

Silver Overlayer
20 µm

MOCVD

REBCO - HTS (epitaxial)
IBAD/Magnetron Sputtering

Buffer Stack2 µm< 0.1 mm*～1.6 µm

Electropolishing～0.2 µm

Substrate50 µm～1.8 µm* not to scale; SCS4050

Figure 1*20 µmREBCO wire configuration diagram of SuperPower Inc.

SuperPower Inc.

Furukawa Electric Review, No. 55 2024

7

Introduction of SuperPower Inc.

fusion reactors (power generation), which is considered atrump card for carbon neutrality, and has begun to besupplied exclusively to Tokamak Energy in the UK (pressrelease1) on January 12, 2023). We have also gained agood reputation for our ability to manufacture and supply
HTS wires whose characteristics are optimized based on
the customer's application and operating environment(temperature and magnetic field) (Figure 2).
10000

Ic /width / A/cm

Figure 4

1000

100

5

1015

202530Magnetic ﬁeld / T
Figure 2

Comparison of HTS wire characteristics in themagnetic field from various companies. (T=4.2 K)
University of Geneva (2023/3/8)

Inside view of the new factory.

capacity expansion to meet the growing demand for
ultra-high field magnet applications, such as for the compact fusion.
In the area of production technology development,
under the slogan of “Making superconductivity a familiar
technology,” we are working to develop quality, consistency, productivity, and low cost by taking advantage ofour strength in the MOCVD process and refining the buffer process (Figure 5-7).

(Carmine SENATORE, Marco BONURA, Tommaso BAGNI, Damien ZURMUEHLE
Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Department of Nuclear and Particle Physics, University of Geneva, Switzerland
At HiTAT workshop in CERN)

3.

ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OFMANUFACTURING AND PRODUCTIONTECHNOLOGIES

Aiming to make the transition out of the HTS wires
research and development department to the manufacturing department, in June2020, the company relocatedto a new factory to enhance the utility environment, torestructure the facility layout, and to prepare for future
expansion (Figure 3, 4). Currently, we are in the processof expanding our facilities after the relocation, and expect
to achieve an annual production capacity of 700 km ofHTS wires by the end of 2024. We are planning the next

Figure 3

Outside view of the new factory.

Figure 5

IBAD equipment.

Figure 6

MOCVD equipment.

Furukawa Electric Review, No. 55 2024

8Introduction of SuperPower Inc.

4.

Figure 7

GENBA (On-site) meeting scene.

CONCLUSION

Schenectady County is adjacent to Albany, the capital ofNew York State, and is the historic town where Thomas
Edison founded General Electric (GE) in 1889, and where
American electrical and electronic products have been
introduced to the world. The origin of SuperPower Inc. isalso GE’s superconducting magnet development division,
which developed MRI in 1983. In 1880, Thomas Edison lit
a light bulb using bamboo fibers imported from Kyoto,and in 1884, Furukawa Electric, which later went on to
make electric cables for all of Japan, began operations in
the hopes of “Brighten Japan.” One hundred and forty
years have passed since then, and we cherish the ties
that have brought the two companies together throughthe technology of high temperature superconductivity,
and we will continue to thrive to contribute to “Brightenthe world.”

REFERENCES
1) Furukawa Electric HP > News Release > Tokamak Energy andFurukawa Electric Strengthen Relationship to Promote Fusion
Energy (Referred on Feb. 20, 2024)
https://www.furukawa.co.jp/en/release/2023/kenkai_20230112.html		

Furukawa Electric Review, No. 55 2024

9