SQUID techniques.I. Obtaining reliability in point-contact SQUID's

Abstract
Stable and permanent niobium point‐contact SQUID's have been fabricated by using oxidized niobium screws to form the point contact. The reliability of these devices is further ensured by a simple and versatile environmental shielding procedure. Over a period of five years there have been no failures of such SQUID's in our laboratory. The signal‐to‐noise performance of these SQUID's is quite good.