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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Josephson Fluxonic Bipolar Junction Transistor

Farshid Raissi

Published Mar 1, 2004• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Josephson fluxonic bipolar junction transistor (JFBJT) has been proposed as a superconducting amplifying element. The results on a simple realization of this device are provided to demonstrate its working principle. These experiments demonstrate that JFBJT provides current gain without suffering from the problems associated with the regular long junction vortex flow transistors. In particular, no resonance structure is present in its I-V characteristics and its impedance can be matched to any load without degradation of its characteristics. Suggestion is made on how a practical device can be fabricated.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2004.824337

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Josephson fluxonic bipolar junction transistor (JFBJT) has been proposed as a superconducting amplifying element. The results on a simple realization of this device are provided to demonstrate its working principle. These experiments demonstrate that JFBJT provides current gain without suffering from the problems associated with the regular long junction vortex flow transistors. In particular, no resonance structure is present in its I-V characteristics and its impedance can be matched to any load without degradation of its characteristics. Suggestion is made on how a practical device can be fabricated.
The dynamics of fluxons in the vortex flow transistor (VFT) has been much studied. The fluxon transit time determines the fundamental speed limit of operation. Since fluxons can travel at the velocity of electromagnetic waves in the junction, the VFT has the potential for operating in high frequency systems ( ≈ 100 GHz). However, owing to the low input and output impedance of the VFT, use of the device in a conventional circuit would be quite limited. A distributed amplifier configuration consisting of many VFTs has been proposed to remedy the problems of low impedance levels. However, the realization of such an amplifier circuit at microwave or millimetre wave frequencies depends on obtaining a circuit model. In this paper, microwave superconducting VFT distributed amplifiers using the balanced control technique is reviewed. This kind of amplifier has the advantage that the capacitive feedthrough effect is decreased to a negligible extent. This is the major limiting factor for high frequency applications. The self-field effect which makes the current step inclined is reduced by injecting bias current only around the region of one end of the junction thus obtaining steeper I- V characteristics. With the asymmetric geometry, the slope of the current step is about one hundred times steeper than those obtained with the conventional overlap geometry. Owing to the diamagnetic behaviour of the Josephson junction, a little of the magnetic field induced by the current in the control line is allowed to penetrate the junction. Thus, the transresistance rm of a VFT is very small. Some methods for maximizing rm and minimizing the output impedance r0 also appear in this review. The feasibility of fabricating VFT distributed amplifiers using low-Tc superconducting material has been demonstrated. The power gain of the amplifier can be as high as 15 dB with a flat frequency response.
The operational characteristics and physics of three superconducting thin-film-based transistor structures are compared. The devices are based on the motion of quantized vortices, either Josephson fluxons in a long tunnel junction of Abrikosov fluxons in a superconducting film. The transistor amplification mechanism is accomplished by controlling magnetic field at the boundaries of the structures. An overview of the present understanding of device mechanisms and measured characteristics, including voltampere relations and small and large signal circuit parameters is provided. Demonstrated applications and anticipated limitations are discussed.
We have realized the Josephson fluxon–antifluxon transistor (JFAT) in high temperature superconductivity using an asymmetric control line on top of either bicrystal junctions or Co-doped YBa2Cu3Ox superconductor–normal–superconductor (SNS) junctions. We have measured current gains as high as 6 for 30 μm-wide bicrystal JFATs (30 K) and as high as 3 for Co-doped SNS JFATs (50 K). An improvement in gain over the Josephson vortex flow transistor, due to improved coupling efficiency, is demonstrated. There is also a reduction of control line inductance that should lead to an improvement in gate speed.
We provide two qualitative models for the operation of Josephson fluxon–antifluxon transistor based on the pendulum model and image currents induced in the junction. This device, which is a variant of a Josephson vortex flow transistor, utilizes high temperature superconductor long Josephson junctions with a control line on top of the junction. Our models are consistent with the experimental observation that the coupling efficiency increases with this geometry. We also provide a quantitative model using numerical simulations to confirm the static and dynamic characteristics predicted by the intuitive models.
With a slight modification to the control line and its bias configuration, a long Josephson junction vortex flow transistor structure can become a so-called fluxonic diode containing fluxon and antifluxon "doped" regions in analogy to a pn junction. Such structures have been made with Nb-Pb tunnel junctions allowing testing of the same device with a number of different doping configurations. This paper compares experimental results with a one dimensional numerical simulation. Different configurations for the diode have been modeled with Stewart-McCumber loss parameters ranging between 50 and 1400. The simulation clarifies the origin of a number of experimental observations, including a peculiar dependence of resonance induced step behavior on loss parameter, and a limit to the value of the gradient of doping in the transition region below which an asymmetric I-V curve representing forward and reverse biases is obtained. In forward bias, the I-V curve above a threshold current is roughly linear and devoid of resonance structure, provided injection of carriers occurs from one region to the other. Injection is a function of loss and the asymmetry of doping.>