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International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM)

NbN,Nb Double-Layered Base-Electrode Josephson Junctions

S. Kosaka, Kazuyoshi Kojima, Fujitoshi Shinoki, Akira Shoji, Hisao Hayakawa

Published Aug 26, 1981• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A new structure of the base-electrode for Josephson devices have been developed in which niobium (Nb) and niobium nitride (NbN) films were sequentially sputtered to form a double-layered structure. Owing to this structure, it is possible not only to reduce the kinetic inductance of the base-electrode due to the small penetration depth of Nb film, but also to obtain good tunneling characteristics with a small subgap conductance due to the surface stability of NbN film. Single-flux-quantum (SFQ) memory cells with this structure have been fabricated and it has been observed that the kinetic inductance is much decreased comparing with that of the SFQ cell with a base-electrode of NbN single layer.

DOI
10.7567/ssdm.1981.b-3-4

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A new structure of the base-electrode for Josephson devices have been developed in which niobium (Nb) and niobium nitride (NbN) films were sequentially sputtered to form a double-layered structure. Owing to this structure, it is possible not only to reduce the kinetic inductance of the base-electrode due to the small penetration depth of Nb film, but also to obtain good tunneling characteristics with a small subgap conductance due to the surface stability of NbN film. Single-flux-quantum (SFQ) memory cells with this structure have been fabricated and it has been observed that the kinetic inductance is much decreased comparing with that of the SFQ cell with a base-electrode of NbN single layer.
All hard Josephson tunnel junctions, whose base and counter electrodes are composed of double-layered niobium nitride (NbN) and niobium (Nb) films, have been successfully fabricated by isolating a junction sandwich formed on a whole silicon wafer with a reactive ion etching technique. The reactive ion etching technique has been used for patterning both base and counterelectrodes, and self-aligning definition of junction areas has been performed. The fabricated junctions show good quality single-particle tunneling characteristics and excellent uniformity in critical currents.
All-NbN Josephson tunnel junctions with sputter-deposited magnesium oxide barriers have been fabricated using single-crystal NbN films for the base electrodes. Fabricated Josephson junctions have shown good tunneling characteristics with large gap voltages (5.6-5.8 mV), narrow gap widths (0.1-0.2 mV, from 30 to 70%), and small subgap leakage currents (V/sub m/=20-30 mV, measured at 3 mV). The results of a measurement of a subgap structure for a fabricated junction suggest that the excess leakage currents of fabricated junctions are due to multiparticle tunneling through locally thin areas in the MgO barriers.
We have developed a novel process for fabricating all refractory Josephson tunnel junctions whose base and counter electrodes are composed of (Nb-NbN) double-layered films. In this process, tunnel junctions have been isolated using a reactive ion etching from a junction sandwich which had been formed on an entire silicon wafer, and also the reactive ion etching has been used for patterning electrodes and insulation layers in devices. Fabricated junctions have yielded good tunneling characteristics with excellent uniformity and reproducibility. The maximum critical current density was widely changed from 300 A/cm2to 8 kA/cm2. All refractory single flux quantum(SFQ) memory cells in a 32×32 arrangement have been integrated with a 2.5 μm minimum linewidth on a chip using this process, and an SFQ cell in the memory array has been successfully operated. The maximum deviation of critical currents in the memory array was measured to be ±6.5%.
The high kinetic inductance of niobium nitride (NbN) thin films can be used for an implementation of compact on-chip inductances in cryoelectronic circuits. Here, for the first time, we demonstrate the implementation of a hybrid superconducting technology that includes the fabrication of standard aluminum submicron Josephson junctions and the NbN atomic layer deposition process. As an example, we fabricated and characterized a single and array of Al Josephson junctions together with NbN interconnections. The main Al Josephson junction parameters as well as NbN superconducting properties are in a good agreement with the values obtained by our standard fabrication process. The combination of technological processes for the NbN layers with Al Josephson junction allows implementing a new generation of innovative superconducting devices for different applications.
We have developed a new integration method for Josephson tunnel junctions based on high Tc superconducting compound materials such as NbN. In this method, a sputtered ZnO film has been employed as a resist mask which can be used in high substrate temperatures during the film deposition. It has been found that fine patterns of the refractory superconducting film can be obtained by this method and the patterning processes have no interference with other integration processes. We have applied this method to patterning base electrode of NbN and formed high quality NbN-oxide-Pb Josephson tunnel junctions by using an rf plasma oxidation. The fabricated junctions have been found to have a relatively large gap ( ∼ 4.0 mV ) and low current leak in the subgap region, and to be quite stable for thermal cyclings and storage. We have also fabricated quantum interference memory devices by integrating these junctions and the operation has been successfully demonstrated.