Technology

Could be some super specific timing on one of the steps where a discrepancy of a short time doesn't seem meaningful but is

This is actually quite likely:

• The fabrication process consists of three separate heating-holding-cooling sequences, each one with a different holding temperature and timing.
• These sequences repeatedly anneal the material, changing its cristalline structure.
• The superconducting effect, is explained in terms of a slightly compressed crystalline structure creating a series of channels for electron tunnelling to happen.

If it wasn't all a scam, then it is very likely that a very precise temperature profile needs to be met in order for the effect to appear. It might've even been a fluke, and they themselves might be unable to fully reproduce it.

In the papers, they only got 4 samples, and still they seem to have messed around with some of them, so effectively no two samples had the same measurements (some were used for different tests, some were changed when used in the same test).