  An improved nanopatterning procedure has been developed to obtain YBCO
nanowires with cross sections as small as 50x50 nm^2, protected by an Au
capping layer. To probe the effective role of the Au protecting layer, we have
measured the current-voltage characteristics and the resistive transition in
temperature of the nanowires. Critical current densities up to 10^8 A/cm^2 have
been achieved at T=4.2 K, approaching the theoretical depairing current limit.
The resistance, measured as a function of temperature close to Tc, has been
fitted with a thermal activated phase slip model, including the effect of the
gold layer. The extracted values of the superconducting coherence length and of
the London penetration depth give current densities consistent with the
measured ones. These results cannot be achieved with same nanowires, without
the Au capping layer.
