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arXiv:1909.07428 · Applied Physics Letters

Dielectric loss extraction for superconducting microwave resonators

C. R. H. McRae, R. E. Lake, J. L. Long, Mustafa Bal, X. Wu, B. Jugdersuren, T. H. Metcalf, X. Liu, D. P. Pappas

Published May 11, 2020• 29 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The investigation of two-level-state (TLS) loss in dielectric materials and interfaces remains at the forefront of materials research in superconducting quantum circuits. We demonstrate a method of TLS loss extraction of a thin film dielectric by using a lumped element resonator fabricated from a superconductor-dielectric-superconductor trilayer. We extract the dielectric loss by formulating a circuit model for a lumped element resonator with TLS loss and then fitting to this model using measurements from a set of three resonator designs: a coplanar waveguide resonator, a lumped element resonator with an interdigitated capacitor, and a lumped element resonator with a parallel plate capacitor that includes the dielectric thin film of interest. Unlike the commonly used single measurement technique, this method allows the accurate measurement of materials with TLS loss lower than 10−6. We demonstrate this method by extracting a TLS loss of 1.00×10−3 for sputtered Al2O3 using a set of samples fabricated from an Al/Al2O3/Al trilayer. We compare this method with the single measurement technique and observe a difference of 11% in extracted loss of the trilayer.

DOI
10.1063/5.0004622

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The investigation of two-level-state (TLS) loss in dielectric materials and interfaces remains at the forefront of materials research in superconducting quantum circuits. We demonstrate a method of TLS loss extraction of a thin film dielectric by using a lumped element resonator fabricated from a superconductor-dielectric-superconductor trilayer. We extract the dielectric loss by formulating a circuit model for a lumped element resonator with TLS loss and then fitting to this model using measurements from a set of three resonator designs: a coplanar waveguide resonator, a lumped element resonator with an interdigitated capacitor, and a lumped element resonator with a parallel plate capacitor that includes the dielectric thin film of interest. Unlike the commonly used single measurement technique, this method allows the accurate measurement of materials with TLS loss lower than 10−6. We demonstrate this method by extracting a TLS loss of 1.00×10−3 for sputtered Al2O3 using a set of samples fabricated from an Al/Al2O3/Al trilayer. We compare this method with the single measurement technique and observe a difference of 11% in extracted loss of the trilayer.
Epitaxially grown superconductor/dielectric/superconductor trilayers have the potential to form high-performance superconducting quantum devices and may even allow scalable superconducting quantum computing with low-surface-area qubits such as the merged-element transmon. In this work, we measure the power-independent loss and two-level-state (TLS) loss of epitaxial, wafer-bonded, and substrate-removed Al/GaAs/Al trilayers by measuring lumped element superconducting microwave resonators at millikelvin temperatures and down to single-photon powers. The power-independent loss of the device is (4.8±0.1)×10−5, and the resonator-induced intrinsic TLS loss is (6.4±0.2)×10−5. Dielectric loss extraction is used to determine a lower bound of the intrinsic TLS loss of the trilayer of 7.2×10−5. The unusually high power-independent loss is attributed to GaAs’s intrinsic piezoelectricity.
The performance of superconducting circuits for quantum computing is limited by materials losses. In particular, coherence times are typically bounded by two-level system (TLS) losses at single photon powers and millikelvin temperatures. The identification of low loss fabrication techniques, materials, and thin film dielectrics is critical to achieving scalable architectures for superconducting quantum computing. Superconducting microwave resonators provide a convenient qubit proxy for assessing performance and studying TLS loss and other mechanisms relevant to superconducting circuits such as non-equilibrium quasiparticles and magnetic flux vortices. In this review article, we provide an overview of considerations for designing accurate resonator experiments to characterize loss, including applicable types of losses, cryogenic setup, device design, and methods for extracting material and interface losses, summarizing techniques that have been evolving for over two decades. Results from measurements of a wide variety of materials and processes are also summarized. Finally, we present recommendations for the reporting of loss data from superconducting microwave resonators to facilitate materials comparisons across the field.
We have developed a reliable method for the direct measurement of dielectric losses in thin films using a special design of lumped element superconducting resonators. The method presented allows obtaining quantitative values for the losses in the film volume as well as the metal/dielectric interfaces. Numerous different resonator geometries were designed and measured in order to study the losses in dielectric thin films usually used for Josephson junction fabrication, such as Nb 2 O 5 , SiO and SiN x , at low temperatures and low gigahertz frequencies. The results show that for such amorphous materials, the bulk losses clearly exceed the interface losses. Furthermore, the frequency dependence of the losses in this working regime was studied for the first time. Our results are in good agreement with the universal law describing the frequency dependence of dielectric losses and suggest that the losses are due to many-body interacting dipoles, which is an important fact for the theoretical modelling of two-level fluctuators. We also investigated the losses in multi-layer films and find that the results are in good agreement with the theoretical expectations, which allows optimization of the dielectric multi-layers used in Josephson junction and qubit fabrication.
© 2019 American Physical Society. Superconducting quantum-computing architectures comprise resonators and qubits that experience energy loss due to two-level systems (TLSs) in bulk and interfacial dielectrics. An understanding of these losses is critical to improving performance in superconducting circuits. In this work, we present a method for quantifying the TLS losses of different bulk and interfacial dielectrics present in superconducting coplanar-waveguide (CPW) resonators. By combining statistical characterization of sets of specifically designed CPW resonators on isotropically etched silicon substrates with detailed electromagnetic modeling, we determine the separate loss contributions from individual material interfaces and bulk dielectrics. This technique for analyzing interfacial TLS losses can be used to guide targeted improvements to qubits, resonators, and their superconducting fabrication processes.
The improvement of the coherence times of superconducting qubits depends on the reduction of the dielectric losses in the insulating materials implemented for the device fabrication. These losses depend on the density of spurious dipoles of different nature (two-level systems, TLSs) which couple to phase qubits and, hence, limit their coherence times. Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H), because of its lower loss tangent (tan δ) among conventional dielectrics (a-SiO, a-SiO2, a-SiNx:H), is considered as the best amorphous dielectric for superconducting qubit application. We have developed a reliable method for the direct measurement of dielectric losses in amorphous dielectric thin films using a novel design based on four lumped superconducting LC resonators connected in series without coupling capacitors. The losses are obtained as tan δ = 1/Q0, where Q0 is the intrinsic quality factor of the resonator, measured at 3 dB above the resonance frequency without any fitting procedure. The series type LC resonators with a-Si:H as dielectric were fabricated by the Nb technology. The measurements were done at the conditions of a qubit application (0.5 -10 GHz frequency range and low temperatures). The low values of the loss tangent of a-Si:H (up to 2.5 x 10−5 at 4.2 K) have required the development of superconducting housing for the resonators in order to eliminate a spurious dependence of tan δ on the microwave power, by reducing losses which were not originated in the dielectric itself. The results of the simulations agree well with the experiments.
We have investigated dielectric losses in amorphous SiO thin films under operating conditions of superconducting qubits (mK temperatures and low microwave powers). For this purpose, we have developed a broadband measurement setup employing multiplexed lumped element resonators using a broadband power combiner and a low-noise amplifier. The measured temperature and power dependences of the dielectric losses are in good agreement with those predicted for atomic two-level tunneling systems (TLS). By measuring the losses at different frequencies, we found that the TLS density of states is energy dependent. This had not been seen previously in loss measurements. These results contribute to a better understanding of decoherence effects in superconducting qubits and suggest a possibility to minimize TLS-related decoherence by reducing the qubit operation frequency.