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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Fabrication of Superconducting Quantum Interference Device with Thin-Film Quantum Point Contacts

Hiroya Abe, K. Hamasaki, Takashi Ishiguro

Published Dec 1, 1994• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have fabricated dc-superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with all-thin-film point contacts (Nb–Nb nanoconstriction-NbN). The size of the nanoconstriction may be smaller than the superconducting coherence length of bulk Nb. The quasiparticle characteristic of the all-thin-film point contact can be explained using the Blonder, Tinkham and Klapwijk (BTK) quasiparticle current which is applicable to the superconducting quantum point contact. The flux noise of SQUID with 10 pH operated in a flux locked loop is 8 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 at 1 Hz, and 4 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 at frequencies above 10 Hz is limited by the preamplifier.

DOI
10.1143/jjap.33.7210

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We have fabricated dc-superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with all-thin-film point contacts (Nb–Nb nanoconstriction-NbN). The size of the nanoconstriction may be smaller than the superconducting coherence length of bulk Nb. The quasiparticle characteristic of the all-thin-film point contact can be explained using the Blonder, Tinkham and Klapwijk (BTK) quasiparticle current which is applicable to the superconducting quantum point contact. The flux noise of SQUID with 10 pH operated in a flux locked loop is 8 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 at 1 Hz, and 4 µΦ0/ Hz1/2 at frequencies above 10 Hz is limited by the preamplifier.
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.
All-thin film superconducting Nb-Nb nanoconstriction-NbN quantum well devices with improved low-frequency noise properties have been successfully fabricated. The quasiparticle current characteristics of this device are well explained by the Andreev reflection current. The low-frequency noise parameter η in Hooge's empirical theory decreases quickly with increasing device quality factor Q eff = R D (1 mV)/R N (10 mV), i.e., with decreasing effective strength of the barrier potential at the superconductor (Nb, or NbM-nanoconstriction interface
In this article, an all-NbN superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) array was developed for future applications by taking advantage of the higher critical temperature of a NbN film compared with Nb. The NbN SQUID array was composed of 100 SQUIDs with equal loop areas connected in series. The array was fabricated on a single-crystal MgO (100) substrate using 3-μm-diameter NbN/AlN/NbN Josephson junctions. The hysteresis and shielding parameters of the SQUID were 0.67 and 0.15, respectively. The SQUIDs in the array were coherently modulated by injecting current in a common flux control line, which resulted in a modulation voltage of 3.54 mV with consistent periodicity and a flux-to-voltage transfer coefficient of 23 mV/Φ0. Using a flux locked loop circuit, the fabricated NbN SQUID array exhibited excellent performance with a low white flux noise of 1.4 μΦ0/√Hz, which included the preamplifier noise.
All-thin film superconducting Nb-Nb nanoconstriction-NbN quantum well devices with improved low-frequency noise properties have been successfully fabricated. The quasiparticle current characteristics of this device are well explained by the Andreev reflection current. The low-frequency noise parameter η in Hooge's empirical theory decreases quickly with increasing device quality factor Q eff=R D(1 mV)/R N(10 mV), i.e., with decreasing effective strength of the barrier potential at the superconductor (Nb, or NbM-nanoconstriction interface.
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.
Abstract Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) with 3D nano-bridge junctions can be miniaturized into nano-SQUIDs that are able to sense a few spins in a large magnetic field. Among all device parameters, the inductance is key to the performance of SQUIDs with 3D nano-bridge junctions. Here, we measured the critical-current magnetic flux modulation curves of 12 devices with three design types using a current strip-line directly coupled to the SQUID loop. A best flux modulation depth of 71% was achieved for our 3D Nb SQUID. From the modulation curves, we extracted the inductance values of the current stripe-line in each design and compared them with the corresponding simulation results of InductEX. In this way, London penetration depths of 110 and 420 nm were determined for our Nb (niobium) and NbN (niobium nitride) films, respectively. Furthermore, we showed that inductances of 11 and 119 pH for Nb and NbN 3D nano-bridge junctions, respectively, dominated the total inductance of our SQUID loops which are 23 pH for Nb and 255 pH for NbN. A screening parameter being equal to one suggests optimal critical currents of 89.6 and 8.1 μ A for Nb and NbN SQUIDs, respectively. Additionally, intrinsic flux noise of 110 ± 40 n Φ 0 /(Hz) 1/2 is calculated for the Nb SQUIDs with 3D nano-bridge junctions by Langevin simulation.