Fabrication of sub-micron Nb/Al-oxide/Nb sis junctions

I describe a process for fabricating high critical current density, submicron superconductor/insulator/superconductor (SIS) tunnel junctions, suitable for use as millimeter-wave or submillimeter-wave mixers. The superconducting electrodes are niobium; the insulating barrier is aluminum oxide. Standard optical photolithography is employed, with subsequent shrinkback of the photoresist mesa defining the device through reactive-ion etching in an oxygen plasma to enhance step-coverage by the insulating layer. Active areas as small as 0.5µm² have been made. I discuss two variations of the process, one starting from a small initial trilayer region defined by liftoff, and the other starting from a whole-wafer initial trilayer.     

230 and 492 GHz low noise sis waveguide receivers employing tuned Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions

We report results on two full height waveguide receivers that cover the 200–290 GHz and 380–510 GHz atmospheric windows. The receivers are part of the facility instrumentation at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii. We have measured receiver noise temperatures in the range of 20K–35K DSB in the 200–290 GHz band, and 65–90K DSB in the 390–510 GHz atmospheric band. In both instances low mixer noise temperatures and very high quantum efficiency have been achieved. Conversion gain (3 dB) is possible with the 230 GHz receiver, however lowest noise and most stable operation is achieved with unity conversion gain.A 40% operating bandwidth is achieved by using a RF compensated junction mounted in a two-tuner full height waveguide mixer block. The tuned Nb/AlO _x /Nb tunnel junctions incorporate an end-loaded tuning stub with two quarter-wave transformer sections to tune out the large junction capacitance. Both 230 and 492 GHz SIS junctions are 0.49µm² in size and have current densities of 8 and 10 kA/cm² respectively.Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) measurements of the 230 and 492 GHz tuned junctions show good agreement with the measured heterodyne waveguide response.     

Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb超导隧道结的制备

在高阻硅衬底上采用光刻、直流磁控溅射、反应离子刻蚀(RIE)、等离子体增强化学气相沉积法(PECVD)等方法研究制备了高质量的Nb/Al-Al Ox/Nb超导隧道结。在4.2K下,测量了直径8μm的圆形结样品,得到临界电流密度约为1.6k A/cm2,漏电流约为50μA。制结工艺流程的重复性较好。     

Characteristics of Nb/Al superconducting tunnel junctions fabricated using ozone gas

To improve the energy resolution(?E) of Nb/Al superconducting tunnel junctions(STJs), an ozone(O3) oxidation process has been developed to fabricate a thin defect-free tunnel barrier that simultaneously shows high critical current JC 1000 A/cm2 and high normalized dynamic resistance RDA 100 M?·μm2, where A is the size of the STJ. The 50-μm2 STJs produced by O3 exposure of 0.26 Pa·min with an indirect spray of O3 gas, which is a much lower level of exposure than the O2 exposure used in a conventional O2 oxidation process, exhibit a maximum JC= 800 A/cm2 and a high RDA = 372 M? ·μm2. The 100-pixel array of the 100-μm2STJs produced using the same O3 oxidation conditions exhibits a constant leak current I leak= 14.9 ± 3.2 n A at a bias point around ? /e(where e is half the energy gap of an STJ),and a high fabrication yield of 87%. Although the I leak values are slightly larger than those of STJs produced using the conventional O2 oxidation process, the STJ produced using O3 oxidation shows a ?E = 10 eV for the C-Kα line, which is the best value of our Nb/Al STJ x-ray detectors.     

Fabrication of high-quality submicron Nb/Al--AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions

Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions are often used in the studies of macroscopic quantum phenomena and superconducting qubit applications of the Josephson devices. In this work, we describe a convenient and reliable process using electron beam lithography for the fabrication of high-quality, submicron-sized Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions. The technique follows the well-known selective Nb etching process and produces high-quality junctions with Vm=100 mV at 2.3 K for the typical critical current density of 2.2 kA/cm^2, which can be adjusted by controlling the oxygen pressure and oxidation time during the formation of the tunnelling barrier. We present the results of the temperature dependence of the sub-gap current and in-plane magnetic-field dependence of the critical current, and compare them with the theoretical predictions.     

Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb隧道结制备中压控电压源阳极氧化工艺研究

采用计算机程控的压控电压源阳极氧化模式研究制备出自对准Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb隧道结的绝缘层Nb2O5/Al2O3/Nb2O5。研究了氧化电压、氧化层的厚度和氧化时间的关系。当阳极氧化电压变化率低于8V/min时,阳极氧化层的厚度基本取决于氧化电压的大小,而与氧化电压变化率无关。我们已采用电压源阳极氧化技术成功制备出超导Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb隧道结。     

Nb/AlOx-Al/Nb超导隧道结制备氧化工艺与特性研究

提出一种氧的等离子氧化的方法改善结区边缘绝缘性能,降低超导隧道结的漏电流。对Al膜进行等离子氧化能够有效的改善氧化膜的绝缘性能,AES分析表明:氧化绝缘层均匀,界面清晰;应用此方法成功制备出较好性能的Nb隧道结。     

Properties of superconducting Nb/Al/Nb/Al?AlOx?Al?AlOx?Al/Nb/Al/Nb tunnel junctions

Modified geometry (MG) devices, Nb/Al/Nb/Al−AlO_x−Al−AlO_x−Al/Nb/Al/Nb, have been fabricated and investigated in comparison with the basic geometry (BG) double-barrier Nb/Al−AlO_x−Al−AlO_x−Al/Nb devices. The enhancement of the critical temperature in the Al film is found to be weaker for the MG devices as compared with the BG devices at temperatures nearT=4.2 K but stronger at lowT. Indication of an enhancement of dc Josephson critical current density,j _c , at bias voltageV≠0 as compared withj _c (V=0) has been observed in the MG devices for the first time.     

Heterodyne mixing at 70 GHz with superconductor-insulator-superconductor tunnel junctions

A laboratory heterodyne receiver working at 70 GHz was built up using superconductor-insulator-superconductor tunnel junction as mixing element. Single sideband conversion loss L_C as low as 1.92±0.23 and mixer noise temperature T_M of less than 100 K have been achieved while local oscillator pump power is 4·10^–8W.     

A 40 GHz band SIS receiver using Nb/Al?AlOx/Nb array junctions

A 40 GHz band SIS mixer receiver has been built using Nb/Al–AlOx/Nb array junctions and a 4.3 K closed cycle helium refrigerator. The minimum conversion loss of the mixer is 2±1 dB and the single sideband receiver noise temperature (T_RX (SSB)) is as low as 110±10 K at 36 GHz. T_RX (SSB) is almost constant in the IF bandwidth of 600 MHz. The mixer saturation level is as high as 15 nW, which is comparable to the injected LO power.Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO), a branch of the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, University of Tokyo, is a cosmic radio observing facility open for outside users.     

Hysteretic effects in the dc current-voltage characteristic of normal Nb/Pb tunnel junctions

High resistance normal Nb/Pb tunnel junctions have been studied. Both at 300 K and 77 K an hysteresis in the I–V characteristic has been measured: the presence of negative or positive bias voltages changes the tunneling probability. At every fixed bias current value, a voltage drift with time appears. The drift velocity increases as the voltage or the temperature increases. Moreover at 77 K anomalous low frequency oscillations arise in the junction when some positive or negative threshold voltages are exceeded.     

Nb/BiSCCO point conctact junctions

Summary Preparation procedure and sample characterization of 112 BiSCCO pellets exhibiting high-T _c superconductivity are discussed. TypicalI–V and dV/dI curves of Nb/BiSCCO point conctact junctions at various temperatures are presented.     

Characteristics of CeCoIn5/Al/AlOx/Nb and CeCoIn5/Al/AlOx/Al tunnel junctions

We report characteristics of CeCoIn₅/Al/AlO_x/Nb and CeCoIn₅/Al/AlO_x/Al tunnel junctions fabricated on the (0 0 1) surface of CeCoIn₅ crystal platelets. The main result of this work is the observation of a low Josephson current (as compared with that expected from the Ambegaokar–Baratoff formula), which is consistent with idea that the order parameter in the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn₅ has unconventional pairing symmetry.     

0-π oscillations in nanostructured Nb/Fe/Nb Josephson junctions

The physics of the π phase shift in ferromagnetic Josephson junctions may enable a range of applications for spin-electronic devices and quantum computing. We investigate transitions from “0” to “π” states in Nb/Fe/Nb Josephson junctions by varying the Fe barrier thickness from 0.5 nm to 5.5 nm. From magnetic measurements we estimate for Fe a magnetic dead layer of about 1.1 nm. By fitting the characteristic voltage oscillations with existing theoretical models we extrapolate an exchange energy of 256 meV, a Fermi velocity of 1.98 ×10⁵ m/s and an electron mean free path of 6.2 nm, in agreement with other reported values. From the temperature dependence of the I_CR_N product we show that its decay rate exhibits a nonmonotonic oscillatory behavior with the Fe barrier thickness.     

Nb/A1-AlO_X/Nb隧道结的制备研究

通过改进RIE的刻蚀工艺和绝缘层的生长工艺,在SiO2/Si衬底上制备出了性能良好的超导Nb/A1-AlOX/Nb隧道结。采用CF4作为刻蚀气体,降低了RIE对结势垒层和衬底SiO2层的刻蚀。使用PECVD生长绝缘层SiO2,改善了绝缘性能,从而降低了隧道结的漏电流。     

Limitations in cooling electrons using normal-metal-superconductor tunnel junctions

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally two limiting factors in cooling electrons using biased tunnel junctions to extract heat from a normal metal into a superconductor. First, when the injection rate of electrons exceeds the internal relaxation rate in the metal to be cooled, the electrons do not obey the Fermi-Dirac distribution, and the concept of temperature cannot be applied as such. Second, at low bath temperatures, states within the gap induce anomalous heating and yield a theoretical limit of the achievable minimum temperature.     

Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb junctions with controllable critical current density for qubit application

Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions with controllable critical current density Jc are fabricated using the standard selective Nb etching process.Tunnel barriers are formed in different oxygen exposure conditions (oxygen pressure P and oxidation time t),giving rise to Jc ranging from 100 A/cm2 to above 2000 A/cm2.Jc shows a familiar linear dependence on P × t in logarithmic scales.We calculate the energy levels of the phaseand flux-type qubits using the achievable junction parameters and show that the fabricated Nb/Al-AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions can be used conveniently for quantum computation applications in the future.