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Quantum Communications and Quantum Imaging

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors made of NbTiN and MoSi (Conference Presentation)

Lucio Zugliani, Rasmus Flaschmann, Christian Schmid, Stefan Strohauer, Fabian Wietschorke, Stefanie Grotowski, Simone Spedicato, Sven Ernst, Fabian Flassig, Matthias Althammer, Rudolf Groß, Jonathan James Finley, Kai Müller

Published Oct 3, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this work, recent developments in the study of Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) are presented. This devices properties highly depends on the quality of the superconducting films from which they are fabricated. Here, we study some film properties for SNSPDs made out of NbTiN and MoSi in function of the deposition parameters. Subsequently we focus on the properties of the fabricated detector, such as efficiency, timing resolution and energy sensitivity.

DOI
10.1117/12.2633635

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arXiv:1309.7074•Superconductor Science and Technology•Aug 12, 2014•97 citations
In this work, recent developments in the study of Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) are presented. This devices properties highly depends on the quality of the superconducting films from which they are fabricated. Here, we study some film properties for SNSPDs made out of NbTiN and MoSi in function of the deposition parameters. Subsequently we focus on the properties of the fabricated detector, such as efficiency, timing resolution and energy sensitivity.
In recent years, Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) have obtained tremendous attention as a possible key technology for photonic quantum processing and faint light detection. Here, we present our recent progress on engineering of the properties of NbTiN SNSPDs fabricated on various substrates measured. We discuss approaches to simultaneously improve the most important figures of merit (DCR, dead time, timing jitter, efficiency) as well as efficient characterization methods. Specifically, for the latter we investigate the impact of the substrate material on the performance parameters as well as the fundamental interrelation of the resulting voltage pulse properties, such as pulse height, rise time and timing jitter, and their dependence on the applied bias current.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) made from amorphous superconductors have showed great promise for achieving high fabrication yields, due to the highly uniform nature of the films. We present progress on the development of SNSPD based on amorphous MoSi with a critical temperature of around 5 K, which is ideal for detector operation at temperatures of 1 – 2.5 K, accessible with widely available cryogenic systems. First generation devices have achieved a saturated internal efficiency from visible to near-infrared wavelengths, which is the first requirement for high overall system efficiency. The broadband response has allowed us to make a robust study the energy-current relation in these devices, which defines the current required for a saturated internal detection efficiency for a given incident photon energy. Contrary to previous studies with other material systems, we find a nonlinear energy-current relation, which is an important insight into the detection mechanism in SNSPDs. The latest generation devices have been embedded into an micro-cavity structure in order to increase the system detection efficiency, which has increased to over 65% at 1550 nm. The efficiency is believed to be limited by fabrication imperfections and we present ongoing progress towards improving this characteristic as well as the yield of the devices. Efforts are also being made towards increasing the maximum operating temperature of the devices.
We fabricated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) made of NbTiN and NbN thin films in the same fabrication batch. Various parameters, such as critical temperature, resistivity, switching current, and kinetic inductance, were compared between the two types of SNSPDs. These data indicate that NbTiN SNSPD surpasses NbN SNSPD in many aspects, including a shorter recovery time due to smaller kinetic inductance, a lower timing jitter due to higher switching current, and better uniformity. Based on the measurement of 28 out of 121 NbTiN SNSPDs on a 2-in Si wafer, 71% of detectors show a system detection efficiency of over 50% at a dark count rate of 100 Hz, with the maximum efficiency being 77.5%.
We report on the impact of the stoichiometry of superconducting MoSi thin films on the performance of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Specifically, we investigate the relation between the film parameters critical temperature Tc , sheet resistance Rs and superconductor thickness d and observe a universal scaling behavior. To benchmark the performance of SNSPDs fabricated from films having different stoichiometry, we measure the bias dependent count rate curves, while the detector is illuminated with wavelengths between 780 nm and 1550 nm. The detector performance as a function photon energy for different nanowire widths reveals a linear relation between the detection current and the photon energy. Furthermore, we determine the interfacial thermal boundary conductance βββ between the superconducting thin film and the substrate, by measuring the return current of the SNSPD and find an increase of βββ with increasing Mo concentration. The highest sensitivity amongst all compared devices is achieved for Mo0.53_{0.53}0.53​Si0.47_{0.47}0.47​, with low Tc (4.1 K) and high Rs (397ΩΩΩ/sq) at a film thickness of 5.4 nm.
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)