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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Fabrication of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors Using MoN

M. Nishikawa, K. Sawai, Kento Sakai, Naoto Kirigane, K. Ohnishi, W. Nakano, Yasutaka Matsuo, Hiroyuki Shibata

Published Jan 25, 2022• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD, SSPD) based on molybdenum nitride (MoN) film with and without a cavity structure. Ultrathin polycrystalline γ-Mo2N films with aTcabout 6 K were obtained by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The absorption efficiency of the device was calculated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method using the optical constants of MoN determined by ellipsometry measurements. The SNSPD with a meander of 150-nm-width and 7-nm-thick nanowire showed a long saturation plateau in the bias current dependence of the system detection efficiency (SDE) at visible wavelength. The SNSPD with a cavity structure showed an SDE of 37% and a timing jitter of 79 ps at a wavelength of 1560 nm. The results show that MoN is a promising alternative to amorphous superconductors for high-performance SNSPD.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2022.3144967

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We report the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD, SSPD) based on molybdenum nitride (MoN) film with and without a cavity structure. Ultrathin polycrystalline γ-Mo2N films with aTcabout 6 K were obtained by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The absorption efficiency of the device was calculated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method using the optical constants of MoN determined by ellipsometry measurements. The SNSPD with a meander of 150-nm-width and 7-nm-thick nanowire showed a long saturation plateau in the bias current dependence of the system detection efficiency (SDE) at visible wavelength. The SNSPD with a cavity structure showed an SDE of 37% and a timing jitter of 79 ps at a wavelength of 1560 nm. The results show that MoN is a promising alternative to amorphous superconductors for high-performance SNSPD.
Abstract We present a comprehensive study of molybdenum nitride (MoN) thin film deposition using direct current reactive magnetron sputtering. We have investigated the effect of various deposition conditions on the superconducting and electrical properties of the films. Furthermore, we have shown that meander-shaped single-photon detectors made from 5 nm MoN films have saturated quantum detection efficiency at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm. Our results indicate that MoN may be a material of interest for practical applications of low-temperature superconductors, including single-photon detectors and transition-edge sensors.
We have developed a practical superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) system with our superconducting thin films and devices fabrication, optical coupling packaging, and cryogenic technology. The SNSPD devices were fabricated from high-quality niobium nitride (NbN) ultra-thin films that were epitaxially grown on single-crystal MgO substrates, and optical cavity structure were applied for improvement of photo absorption efficiency. The SNSPD system was developed based on a compact Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocooler, in which SNSPD can operate continuously at temperature of 2.9 K +/- 10 mK with low power consumption without any liquid cryogens. The system detection efficiencies at 1550 nm wavelength (at a 100 Hz dark count rate) were found to be 2.6% for device without optical cavity and 21% for device with optical cavity. The response speed of devices showed maximally 200 MHz with 5 × 5 mm square device, and timing jitter of 100 ps full width at a half maximum (FWHM) was observed.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) offer excellent performance for infrared single photon detection, combining high efficiency, low timing jitter, low dark count rates and high photon counting rates. Promising application areas for SNSPDs include quantum key distribution, space-to-ground communications and single photon remote sensing [1]. SNSPDs are typically made with ultrathin niobium nitride (NbN) films with thickness 4 nm and a superconducting transition temperature above 9 K. NbN offers high performance in the near infrared but their sensitivity drops at wavelengths beyond 2 um. There is growing interest in potential photon counting applications in the mid infrared domain (for example remote sensing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere [2]). One way to overcome the wavelength limit in NbN SNSPDs is to use films with a lower superconducting energy gap [3]. Here we report on the study of SNSPDs fabricated with thin films of titanium nitride (TiN). We compare TiN films deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and by magnetron sputtering. The TiN films range in thickness from 5 to 60 nm, with superconducting transition temperatures from ~1 K to 3.5 K. We have analyzed the films via transmission electron microscopy and variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry. We characterize TiN SNSPDs performance from near to mid-infrared at wavelengths (1-4 um) with fast optical parametric oscillator (OPO) source. We compare the performance of TiN SNSPDs to devices based on other lower gap materials: MoSi, NbTiN, WSi. [1] Natarajan et al Superconductor Science and Technology 25 063001 (2012) [2] Abshire et al Laser Applications to Chemical, Security and Environmental Analysis, (Optical Society of America, 2008) paper LMA4 [3] Verma et al Applied Physics Letters 105 022602 (2014)
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors with an optical resonant cavity structure are fabricated directly on the single crystal substrate. In order to enhance the photons absorption of incident light and improve system detection efficiency (SDE) efficiently, the structure of SNSPD was designed and optimized using the finite-difference time-domain analysis for different kinds of substrates. The NbN-SNSPDs fabricated on different substrates are measured and compared. The SDE of NbN-SNSPD on MgO substrate reaches 66 % at the wavelength of 940nm at a dark count rate of 100 cps by illuminating from the back of the device through single mode optical fiber.
We report on Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si-based superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on a gallium arsenide substrate. Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si deposited on a passivated GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs surface has the same critical temperature as Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si deposited on silicon. The critical temperature decreases slightly on depositing Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si directly on the native oxide of GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs. Hence, Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si works well as a thin-film superconductor on GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs. We propose that the amorphous structure of Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si ensures compatibility with the GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs matrix. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are fabricated with Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si on GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs using a meander-wire design. The SNSPD metrics are very similar to those of devices fabricated with the same procedure on a silicon substrate. We observe a plateau in the response-versus-bias curve, signaling a saturated internal quantum efficiency. The plateau remains even at an elevated temperature, 2.2 K, at a wavelength of 980 nm. We achieve a timing jitter of 50 ps and a recovery time of 29 ns. These results point to the promise of integrating Mo\mathrm{Mo}Mo-Si\mathrm{Si}Si SNSPDs with GaAs\mathrm{Ga}\mathrm{As}GaAs photonic circuits.
We present high performance fiber-coupled niobium titanium nitride superconducting nanowire single photon detectors fabricated on thermally oxidized silicon substrates. By applying a double sided cavity structure, simulated absorptance in the nanowire meander reached 97% at 1550 nm wavelength. The fabricated device showed a system detection efficiency (DE) of 74% at 1550 nm, dark count rate of 100 c/s, and a full width at half maximum timing jitter of 68 ps under a bias current of 18.0 μA with a practical Gifford-McMahon cryocooler system.