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International Conference on Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (IRMMW-THz)

The Performance of Superconducting NbN Hot Electron Bolometer with Nb5N6 Buffer Layer

Hongkai Shi, Daogang Sun, Runfeng Su, Tao Xu, Xiaoqing Jia, Lin Kang, Xuecou Tu, Jian Chen, Peiheng Wu

Published Aug 29, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) were fabricated with Nb5N6buffered NbN on Si substrate. We present the result that the Nb5N6buffer layer can significantly improve the superconductivity of NbN HEB. The 2.5–5 THz superconducting HEB device has been fabricated successfully. We also do some research on devices which work at varied temperature. It is shown that our buffered HEB device could work at relatively high temperature, which means more possibility of applications in the future.

DOI
10.1109/irmmw-thz50926.2021.9567258

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•Jan 1, 2001•4 citations
Superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) were fabricated with Nb5N6buffered NbN on Si substrate. We present the result that the Nb5N6buffer layer can significantly improve the superconductivity of NbN HEB. The 2.5–5 THz superconducting HEB device has been fabricated successfully. We also do some research on devices which work at varied temperature. It is shown that our buffered HEB device could work at relatively high temperature, which means more possibility of applications in the future.
In this paper, the superconducting NbN hot electron bolometer terahertz detector with an Nb5N6buffer layer was fabricated on the Si substrate. The Nb5N6buffer layer can significantly improve the superconductivity of ultra-thin NbN films. Preliminary results show that with a 30-nm-thick buffer, the zero resistance superconducting transition temperature of a 6-nm-thick NbN film device is 12.6 K, and the superconducting critical current of the device is increased by four times. The noise temperature, IF bandwidth and direct detection sensitivity of the device will be further characterized in following experiments.
Hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers are a complex multi-layer thin film structure containing an ultra-thin superconducting film of NbN as a detecting element and a thick normal metal layer as an antenna structure. We have optimized the fabrication process starting with ultra-thin NbN films, Au films for antenna structures and their patterning using e-beam lithography and lift-off. The coupling between normal conducting antenna and NbN detector has been improved by introducing an intermediate NbN film to reduce proximity suppression of superconductivity in the detecting element. A critical temperature of about 9.5 K is reached for NbN films with a thickness between 5 nm and 6 nm. A twofold increase of the film thickness increases the critical temperature to 12 K. We have shown that a 20 nm thick buffer layer of NbN under a much thicker Au layer is sufficient to ensure a critical temperature of the bi-layer of 9 K. This value is close to the critical temperature of 5.5 nm thick HEB devices. The noise temperature of HEB mixer made using improved technology is about 800 K and was measured in a liquid cryogen free system with a quantum cascade laser as 2.5 THz local oscillator.
Superconducting niobium nitride (NbN) hot electron bolometer (HEB) mixers at terahertz (THz) have been designed, fabricated and measured for applications in astronomy and cosmology. The NbN HEB mixer consists of a planar antenna and an NbN bridge connecting across the antenna's inner terminals on high-resistivity Si substrates. Double sideband (DSB) receiver noise temperatures of 698 K at 0.65 THz, 904 K at 1.6 THz, 1026 K at 2.5 THz and 1386 K at 3.1 THz have been obtained at 4.2 K without corrections and using changeable input local oscillation (LO) power to eliminate the affects of direct detection and instability of the LO power. The excess quantum noise factor beta of about 4 has been estimated using a quantum noise model.
To put space-based and airborne heterodyne instruments into operation at frequencies above 1 THz the superconducting NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) will be incorporated into heterodyne receiver as a mixer. At frequencies above 1.3 THz the sensitivity of the NbN HEB mixers outperform the one of the Schottky diodes and SIS-mixers, and the receiver noise temperature of the NbN HEB mixers increase with frequency. In this paper we present the results of the noise temperature measurements within one batch of NbN HEB mixers based on 3.5 mn thick superconducting NbN film grown on Si substrate with MgO buffer layer at the LO frequencies 2.5 THz and 3.8 THz.
Hot electron bolometer mixers (HEBM) are expected to be used as low-noise heterodyne mixers in the terahertz frequency range. We are developing quasi-optical HEBMs for applications such as atmospheric remote sensing and radio astronomy in the terahertz frequency range. Therefore, we developed a fabrication method using niobium nitride (NbN) ultrathin films deposited on a silicone (Si) substrate for terahertz applications. First, a magnesium oxide buffer layer 50 nm thick was deposited on a Si substrate at approximately 525 °C. After deposition of this layer, NbN ultrathin films were deposited at ambient temperature. Using the buffer layers, we found the transition temperature of the 3.5-nm-thick NbN thin films to be approximately 10 K. The same method was applied to fabricate NbN-HEBMs on a Si substrate. The fabricated quasi-optical mixers were designed to operate at 3.1 THz. The receiver noise temperature was found to be approximately 1930 K (DSB) at 3.1 THz.
Experimental work on the development of a quasi-optical heterodyne receiver for the THz frequency range is reported. The mixing device is a superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) made from ultrathin, d = 3 - 5 nm, niobium nitride (NbN) films. Work described in this thesis comprises: The design of a prototype receiver using quasi-optical coupling. Device fabrication involving reactive magnetron sputtering of NbN films and lithographic definition of the antenna integrated mixer. An investigation of the receiver performance at frequencies between 0.6 THz and 2.5 THz. The best performance is obtained with HEB mixers made from NbN films with a thickness d = 3-3.5 nm and a critical temperature T c = 9 - 9.5 K. Double-side band receiver noise temperatures are 530 K at 0.6 THz, 650 K at 1.6 THz and 1100 K at 2.5 THz. Corrected for losses in the receiver input optics, these values amount to only 10 times the theoretical quantum limit. MgO as the substrate material has been shown to provide improved acoustic coupling between NbN film and the substrate compared to other materials such as Si or sapphire. A maximum IF gain bandwidth of 4.5 GHz has been measured under the same operating conditions which yield lowest noise temperature. The local oscilltor power requirement is ~250 nW absorbed in the bolometer. Quasi-optically coupled HEB mixers have become the device-of-choice for radio astronomical applications in the frequency regime at and above 1 THz.