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arXiv:1005.2021 · Superconductor Science and Technology

DC superconducting quantum interference devices fabricated using bicrystal grain boundary junctions in Co-doped BaFe2As2epitaxial films

Takayoshi Katase, Yoshihiro Ishimaru, Akira Tsukamoto, Hidenori Hiramatsu, Toshio Kamiya, K. Tanabe, Hideo Hosono

Published Jul 2, 2010• 51 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

DC superconducting quantum interference devices (dc-SQUIDs) were fabricated in Co-doped BaFe 2 As 2 epitaxial films on (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O 3 bicrystal substrates with 30° misorientation angles. The 18 × 8 µm 2 SQUID loop with an estimated inductance of 13 pH contained two 3 µm wide grain boundary junctions. The voltage–flux characteristics clearly exhibited periodic modulations with Δ V = 1.4 µV at 14 K, while the intrinsic flux noise of dc-SQUIDs was 7.8 × 10 − 5 Φ 0 Hz − 1/2 above 20 Hz. The rather high flux noise is mainly attributed to the small voltage modulation depth which results from the superconductor–normal-metal–superconductor junction nature of the bicrystal grain boundary.

DOI
10.1088/0953-2048/23/8/082001

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DC superconducting quantum interference devices (dc-SQUIDs) were fabricated in Co-doped BaFe 2 As 2 epitaxial films on (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O 3 bicrystal substrates with 30° misorientation angles. The 18 × 8 µm 2 SQUID loop with an estimated inductance of 13 pH contained two 3 µm wide grain boundary junctions. The voltage–flux characteristics clearly exhibited periodic modulations with Δ V = 1.4 µV at 14 K, while the intrinsic flux noise of dc-SQUIDs was 7.8 × 10 − 5 Φ 0 Hz − 1/2 above 20 Hz. The rather high flux noise is mainly attributed to the small voltage modulation depth which results from the superconductor–normal-metal–superconductor junction nature of the bicrystal grain boundary.
A high T c dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) was fabricated using a bicrystal junction with a misorientation angle of θ=30°. The junction with a width of 2 µ m exhibited high resistance R s=10 Ω and critical current I 0=25 µ A at T=77 K. This gives a I 0 R s as high as 250 µ V. These values indicate that the bicrystal junction has great potential for the development of high performance SQUIDs. The SQUID fabricated with a 30° junction exhibited voltage modulation depths as high as ΔV=85 µ V, 40 µ V and 20 µ V at T=77 K for the inductance values of L s=60 pH, 100 pH and 160 pH, respectively. These are the highest values reported so far. Preliminary noise measurement showed that the flux noise of the SQUID is less than 8 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 for the white noise region, and less than 70 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 at f=1 Hz when the 60 pH-SQUID is dc biased and operated with a conventional Flux Locked Loop (FLL) circuit.
We report on nanopatterned YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO) direct current superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) based on grain boundary Josephson junctions. The nanoSQUIDs are fabricated by epitaxial growth of 120 nm-thick films of the high-transition temperature cuprate superconductor YBCO via pulsed laser deposition on MgO bicrystal substrates with 24° misorientation angle, followed by sputtering of dAu = 65 nm thick Au. Nanopatterning is performed by Ga focused ion beam (FIB) milling. The SQUID performance is comparable to devices on SrTiO3 (STO), as demonstrated by electric transport and noise measurements at 4.2 K. MgO has orders of magnitude smaller dielectric permittivity than STO; i.e., one may avoid Au as a resistively shunting layer to reduce the intrinsic thermal flux noise of the nanoSQUIDs. However, we find that the Au layer is important for avoiding degradation during FIB milling. Hence, we compare devices with different dAu produced by thinning the Au layer via Ar ion milling after FIB patterning. We find that the reduction of dAu yields an increase in junction resistance, however at the expense of a reduction of the critical current and increase in SQUID inductance. This results in an estimated thermal flux noise that is almost independent of dAu. However, for two devices on MgO with 65 nm-thick Au, we find an order of magnitude lower low-frequency excess noise as compared to nanoSQUIDs on STO or those on MgO with reduced dAu. For one of those devices we obtain with bias-reversal readout ultra-low flux noise of ∼175 nΦ0 Hz-1/2 down to ∼10 Hz.
Autonomous single-layer dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) have been prepared from epitaxial, laser-deposited YBa2Cu3Ox films on step edge SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates. For device patterning, a SiOx inhibit technique as well as conventional ethylenediaminetetraacetic wet etch was used. The Josephson junctions are of grain boundary type. Their widths are 5 μm. The SQUID hole is a square of about 5 μm; the SQUID inductance is estimated to be about 20 pH. We obtained a very regular, nonhysteretic flux to voltage modulation over more than 100 flux quanta (Φ0). The maximum voltage signal is of the order of 15 μV peak to peak and the maximum transfer function dV/dΦ at the appropriate flux bias is 50 μV/Φ0 at 77 K. The best value of the equivalent flux noise as measured in the flux locked loop mode is 1.4×10−5 Φ0/Hz1/2 at 1 Hz and 1×10−5 Φ0/Hz1/2 in the white noise region for f≳5 Hz. This results in an energy resolution εn,w(f≳5 Hz)=1×10−29 J/Hz in the white noise region and 2×10−29 J/Hz at 1 Hz.
We have fabricated and measured the properties of micron-size single grain boundary junctions and dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). The width of the junctions was varied between 0.25 and 2 μm. The junctions were formed in c-axis oriented epitaxial films with a single 24° tilt boundary. They were fabricated using electron beam lithography and ion milling. All of the junctions operate at 77 K. The noise properties of SQUIDs made of these junctions have been characterized. They show a significant 1/f component which is comparable to published values. However, the white noise level, 3×10−31 J/Hz measured at 77 K, is the lowest ever reported.
We have studied white (high-frequency)-noise properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ grain-boundary dc superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). Bias voltage (V) dependence of the white-noise voltage spectral density (S v) was measured for dc-SQUIDs and junctions. As a result, S v at low bias voltage can be explained by the thermal noise theory of tunnel junctions. Furthermore, the energy resolution of 1.96×10-32 J/Hz is obtained at 43 K in the white-noise region. The measured energy resolution of the dc-SQUIDs is in good agreement with the theoretical results. According to the above results, YBa2Cu3O7-δ dc-SQUIDs with a quantum noise limit might be realized at 4.2 K.
We have fabricated superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with an inductance of 140 pH by using sub- µm Nb/Al–AlO x –Al/Nb edge junctions. The small capacitance of the junction resulted in the very large voltage swing of 210 µV and gradient dV/ dΦ of 940 µV/Φ0. Consequently, the very low flux noise of 0.61 µΦ0/ Hz0.5 corresponding to the energy sensitivity ε of 8.6h at the white noise level was obtained by using a conventional flux-locked loop configuration. The low-frequency noise was also very low, 2.7 µΦ0/ Hz0.5 corresponding to ε= 170 h at 1 Hz. We could obtain very low flux noise for the SQUID which had the practical inductance using only a conventional readout circuit.