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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Suppressed Critical Current in Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors With High Fill-Factors

Joel K. W. Yang, Andrew J. Kerman, Eric A. Dauler, Bryan M. Cord, Vikas Anant, R. J. Molnar, Karl K. Berggren

Published Jun 1, 2009• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this work we present a new fabrication process that enabled the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors SNSPD with fill-factors as high as 88% with gaps between nanowires as small as 12 nm. This fabrication process combined high-resolution electron-beam lithography with photolithography. Although this work was motivated by the potential of increased detection efficiency with higher fill-factor devices, test results showed an unexpected systematic suppression in device critical currents with increasing fill-factor.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2009.2017953

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In this work we present a new fabrication process that enabled the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors SNSPD with fill-factors as high as 88% with gaps between nanowires as small as 12 nm. This fabrication process combined high-resolution electron-beam lithography with photolithography. Although this work was motivated by the potential of increased detection efficiency with higher fill-factor devices, test results showed an unexpected systematic suppression in device critical currents with increasing fill-factor.
We designed, fabricated, and measured superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SSPDs) with low filling factor which achieve high system detection efficiency (SDE) and counting rate simultaneously. Numerical simulation reveals that high optical absorptance is possible in SSPDs even for low filing factor by tuning the device design. The SDEs of fabricated 18-50% filling factor SSPDs were measured systematically, and all SSPDs showed high SDEs of 61-80% and the lowest 18% filling factor SSPD achieved a high SDE of 69%.
Niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors were fabricated on thermally oxidized silicon substrates with large active areas of 30 μm× 30 μm.To achieve non-constricted detectors,we improved the film growth and electron beam lithography process to fabricate uniform 100-nm wide Nb N nanowires with a fill factor of 50%.The devices showed 72.4% system detection efficiency(SDE) at 100-Hz dark count rate(DCR) and 74-ps timing jitter,measured at the fiber communication wavelength of 1550 nm.The highest SDE which is 81.2% when the DCR is ～ 700 c/s appears at the wavelength of 1650 nm.
To measure light down to the single photon level, superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have become the go-to devices, due to their near unity detection efficiency [1] , high-speed and low noise. An important figure of merit is the internal detection efficiency (IDE). To achieve a saturated IDE in the infrared, wire widths of the order 100 nm are typically required. Nevertheless, recent experiments have shown that functional detectors can be fabricated with wire widths up to 3 µm [2] – [4] . A higher silicon content of the films combined with a smaller film thickness enables wider wires. Increasing the wire width allows for bigger fabrication tolerances which enables the fabrication with optical lithography.
Superconducting detectors have become essential devices for high-performance single-photon counting over a wide wavelength range with excellent time resolution. Detector fabrication typically relies on resist-based lithography processes, which can limit possibilities for device integration, e.g., on unconventional substrates. Here, we demonstrate a resist-free fabrication route for realizing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors based on focused electron beam-induced deposition. Utilizing direct writing of a Pt–C mask, we achieved nanowire meanders with linewidths below 100 nm, operated them as superconducting devices for the detection of visible and near-infrared photons, and showed detector integration on side-polished optical fibers. Being compatible with device fabrication on curved irregular surfaces, our approach could enable superconducting detector integration in complex configurations.
Niobium Titanium nitride (NbTiN) based superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are known for their high performance across a wide spectral range, from the X-ray to the mid-infrared. Nonetheless, fabrication challenges and performance degradation attributable to surface oxidation and lack of uniformity in films thinner than 5 nm remain a significant barrier for achieving high-quality detectors. In this work, we study the influence of a Silicon capping layer on film properties and on the performance of SNSPDs. A Silicon capping layer effectively suppresses oxidation and increases the superconducting transition temperature. This enables superconductivity in films as thin as 3 nm at 3 K, increases critical current in patterned nanowires and significantly extends the saturation plateau from the visible to the near infrared (up to 2050 nm): These detectors maintain sub-50 ps timing jitter, even for nanowires as wide as 250 nm and with detection areas of 20x20μm2. Our results establish that thinner films protected by a capping layer allow for the fabrication of wider wires, decreasing nanofabrication challenges and extending the operating temperature range for efficient single photon detection.
In this paper,the fabrication details and optimization of micro-fabrication process are presented for developing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD). Besides,the device failure analysis is also introduced. With those methods,we successfully fabricated high-quality SNSPDs whose maximum system efficiencies were up to 30% for 660 nm wavelength and 4.2% for 1550 nm wavelength according to the single-photon detection experiment. At the dark count rate of 10 c/s,the detection efficiencies were 20% (660 nm) and 3% (1550 nm) with the SNSPD fabricated with above mentioned methods.