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Applied Sciences

Microwave SINIS Detectors

Michael A. Tarasov, Aleksandra A. Gunbina, Artem M. Chekushkin, Renat A. Yusupov, Valerian S. Edelman, V. P. Koshelets

Published Oct 18, 2022• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This review presents the main characteristics and mechanisms of operation of superconductor–insulator–normal metal–insulator–superconductor (SINIS) microwave detectors. An analysis of the detectors’ performance against a quantum detector and a photon counter is given. Methods for cooling a superconductor using normal metal traps and the role of electron cooling in optimizing the current response to terahertz radiation are discussed. Fabrication methods using shadow evaporation as well as magnetron sputtering are described.

DOI
10.3390/app122010525

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The superconductor–insulator–normal metal–insulator–superconductor (SINIS) tunnel junction structure is the basic building block for various cryogenic devices. Microwave detectors, electron coolers, primary thermometers, and Aharonov–Bohm interferometers have been fabricated by various methods and measured at temperatures down to 100 mK. The manufacturing methods included Dolan-type shadow evaporation, Manhattan-type shadow evaporation, and magnetron sputtering with selective etching of superconducting and normal metal electrodes. Improvement in ultimate sensitivity is achieved by suspending the absorber above the substrate. Best responsivity of up to 30 electrons per photon at a frequency of 350 GHz, or 72000 A/W, and voltage responsivity up to 3.9 × 10 9 V/W were obtained with a black body radiation source and series of band-pass filters. The specially designed SINIS arrays are intended to detect 90 GHz radiation at the “Big Telescope Alt-azimuthal” (romanized Russian: “Bolshoi Teleskop Alt-azimutalnyi”, BTA) with noise equivalent power of less than 10 −16 W·Hz −1/2 . The receiver in a 3 He cryostat with an optical window was mounted at the Nasmyth focus of the BTA and tested at a temperature of 260 mK with a IMPATT diode radiation source.

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Response of a SINIS Detector with Electron Cooling to Submillimeter-Wave Radiation

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The response of a detector fabricated on a silicon substrate in the form of a metamaterial that is a 10 × 10 matrix of split rings containing superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel structures to submillimeter wave radiation has been experimentally studied. At voltages below the superconducting gap, the electron temperature T e at the substrate temperature T ∼ 0.1 K is ∼0.23 K due to overheating by spurious radiation. At the substrate temperature T ∼ 0.3 K, the electron temperature is close to the substrate temperature T e ≈ T. In both cases, with increasing voltage, T e decreases due to electron cooling and reaches 0.19 K at a voltage corresponding to the maximum response. The response at T = 0.1 K is greater than that at T ∼ 0.3 K by a factor of 5–6. Thus, cooling of only electrons does not provide the same responsivity as cooling of the detector as a whole.

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A hybrid superconductor-normal metal electron trap as a photon detector

S. V. Lotkhov, Alexander B Zorin

A single-electron trap built with two superconductor-insulator-normal metal tunnel junctions and coupled to a readout SINIS-type single-electron transistor A (SET A) was studied in a photon detection regime. As a source of photon irradiation, we used an operating second SINIS-type SET B positioned in the vicinity of the trap. In the experiment, the average hold time of the trap was found to be critically dependent on the voltage across SET B. Starting in a certain voltage range, a photon-assisted electron escape was observed at a rate roughly proportional to the emission rate of the photons with energies exceeding the superconducting gap of S-electrodes in the trap. The discussed mechanism of photon emission and detection is of interest for low-temperature noise spectrometry, and it can be of relevance for the ampere standard based on hybrid SINIS turnstiles.

arXiv:1204.3548•Applied Physics Letters•Jun 11, 2012•9 citations
This review presents the main characteristics and mechanisms of operation of superconductor–insulator–normal metal–insulator–superconductor (SINIS) microwave detectors. An analysis of the detectors’ performance against a quantum detector and a photon counter is given. Methods for cooling a superconductor using normal metal traps and the role of electron cooling in optimizing the current response to terahertz radiation are discussed. Fabrication methods using shadow evaporation as well as magnetron sputtering are described.
The superconductor–insulator–normal metal–insulator–superconductor (SINIS) tunnel junction structure is the basic building block for various cryogenic devices. Microwave detectors, electron coolers, primary thermometers, and Aharonov–Bohm interferometers have been fabricated by various methods and measured at temperatures down to 100 mK. The manufacturing methods included Dolan-type shadow evaporation, Manhattan-type shadow evaporation, and magnetron sputtering with selective etching of superconducting and normal metal electrodes. Improvement in ultimate sensitivity is achieved by suspending the absorber above the substrate. Best responsivity of up to 30 electrons per photon at a frequency of 350 GHz, or 72000 A/W, and voltage responsivity up to 3.9 × 10 9 V/W were obtained with a black body radiation source and series of band-pass filters. The specially designed SINIS arrays are intended to detect 90 GHz radiation at the “Big Telescope Alt-azimuthal” (romanized Russian: “Bolshoi Teleskop Alt-azimutalnyi”, BTA) with noise equivalent power of less than 10 −16 W·Hz −1/2 . The receiver in a 3 He cryostat with an optical window was mounted at the Nasmyth focus of the BTA and tested at a temperature of 260 mK with a IMPATT diode radiation source.
The response of a detector fabricated on a silicon substrate in the form of a metamaterial that is a 10 × 10 matrix of split rings containing superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor tunnel structures to submillimeter wave radiation has been experimentally studied. At voltages below the superconducting gap, the electron temperature T e at the substrate temperature T ∼ 0.1 K is ∼0.23 K due to overheating by spurious radiation. At the substrate temperature T ∼ 0.3 K, the electron temperature is close to the substrate temperature T e ≈ T. In both cases, with increasing voltage, T e decreases due to electron cooling and reaches 0.19 K at a voltage corresponding to the maximum response. The response at T = 0.1 K is greater than that at T ∼ 0.3 K by a factor of 5–6. Thus, cooling of only electrons does not provide the same responsivity as cooling of the detector as a whole.
We have developed a Superconductor-Insulator-Normal Metal-Insulator-Superconductor (SINIS) bolometer with a suspended normal metal bridge. The suspended bridge acts as a bolometric absorber with reduced heat losses to the substrate. Such bolometers were characterized at 100-350 mK bath temperatures and electrical responsivity of over 10 9 V/W was measured by dc heating the absorber through additional contacts. Suspended bolometers were also integrated in planar twin-slot and log-periodic antennas for operation in the submillimetre-band of radiation. The measured voltage response to radiation at 300 GHz and at 100 mK bath temperature is 3*10 8 V/W and a current response is 1.1*10 4 A/W which corresponds to a quantum efficiency of ~15 electrons per photon. An important feature of such suspended bolometers is the thermalization of electrons in the absorber heated by optical radiation, which in turn provides better quantum efficiency. This has been confirmed by comparison of bolometric response to dc and rf heating. We investigate the performance of direct SN traps and NIS traps with a tunnel barrier between the superconductor and normal metal trap. Increasing the volume of superconducting electrode helps to reduce overheating of superconductor. Influence of Andreev reflection and Kapitza resistance, as well as electron-phonon heat conductivity and thermal conductivity of N-wiring are estimated for such SINIS devices.
We consider theoretically signal and noise properties of the new type of a high-sensitivity microwave detector, based on a SINIS (Superconductor-Insulator-Normal metal-Insulator-Superconductor) Josephson junction, in which the electron energy distribution function f(ε) in the nanoscale normal metal N region is nonequilibrium due to the capacitive coupling of this region with a receiving antenna. The deviation of f(ε) from the equilibrium leads to a change in the critical current Ic of the junction, i.e., in fact, to its inductance L = Φ0/2πIc (Φ0 ≈ 2.07*10-15 Wb is the magnetic flux quantum), which is the output signal of this device. Up to now there was no calculation of the noise properties of SINIS Josephson junction bolometer, taking into account non-equilibrium form of electron distribution function f(ε) in the normal metal absorber of this detector. We make this calculations and demonstrate, that noise parameter NEP of this detector is lower, than in others modern microwave detectors.
The voltage response of a thin-film normal-metal hot-electron bolometer based on a SINIS (superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor) structure to the radiation of a high-temperature Josephson junction in the terahertz frequency region was measured. Bolometers were integrated with planar log-periodic and double-dipole antennas, and Josephson junctions were integrated with log-periodic antennas. Measurements showed that the Josephson junction at a temperature of 260 mK was overheated by the transport current, so that its electron temperature exceeded 3 K at a bias voltage of 1 mV. The maximum response of a bolometer with a double-dipole antenna was observed at a frequency of 300 GHz, which agreed well with the calculated value. The Josephson radiation was observed at frequencies up to 1.7 THz. The voltage response of a bolometer reached 4×10 8 V/W, and the total noise-equivalent power reached 1.5×10 −17 W/Hz 1/2 .
A single-electron trap built with two superconductor-insulator-normal metal tunnel junctions and coupled to a readout SINIS-type single-electron transistor A (SET A) was studied in a photon detection regime. As a source of photon irradiation, we used an operating second SINIS-type SET B positioned in the vicinity of the trap. In the experiment, the average hold time of the trap was found to be critically dependent on the voltage across SET B. Starting in a certain voltage range, a photon-assisted electron escape was observed at a rate roughly proportional to the emission rate of the photons with energies exceeding the superconducting gap of S-electrodes in the trap. The discussed mechanism of photon emission and detection is of interest for low-temperature noise spectrometry, and it can be of relevance for the ampere standard based on hybrid SINIS turnstiles.