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Applied Physics Letters

Microwave permittivity and loss in epitaxial SrTiO3

Kamal Brahim, Andries Boelen, Anja Ulrich, Michiel Debaets, Tom Tandecki, Erfan Mafakheri, Conglin Sun, Yishu Huang, Anton Potočnik, Tsvetan Ivanov, Lukas Nulens, Joris Van de Vondel, Clément Merckling, Kristiaan De Greve, Christian Haffner

Published Nov 3, 2025• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Materials that feature very high permittivity and very low losses at low temperatures offer interesting opportunities for improving the performance of a variety of microwave-optical devices such as phase shifters and quantum transducers. In this Letter, superconducting Al coplanar waveguide resonators between 4 and 6 GHz were used to determine the complex permittivity and loss of thin film SrTiO3 on Si at cryogenic temperatures. We report a permittivity of 1950 ± 140 and a high-power loss tangent (tan δSTO) of 3.4 ± 0.1×10−4 at millikelvin temperatures. To further investigate the potential of SrTiO3 for use in emerging quantum technology applications, the transition of tan δSTO into the single photon regime was analyzed. Our findings reveal a loss scaling that aligns closely with a two-level system loss mechanism. We observe a nearly two orders of magnitude difference in tan δSTO between high and low input power levels, consistent with that two-level system loss picture.

DOI
10.1063/5.0265424

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We have investigated both the temperature and the power dependence of microwave losses for various dielectrics commonly used as substrates for the growth of High critical Temperature Superconductor thin films. We present measurement of niobium superconducting λ/2λ/2λ/2 coplanar waveguide resonators, fabricated on La0.3Sr0.7Al0.65Ta0.35O3La_{0.3}Sr_{0.7}Al_{0.65}Ta_{0.35}O_3La0.3​Sr0.7​Al0.65​Ta0.35​O3​ (LSAT), MgOMgOMgO (MgO) and LaAlO3LaAlO_3LaAlO3​ (LAO), at the millikelvin temperature range and at low input power. By comparing our results with the Two-Level System (TLS) model, we have discriminated among different dominant loss mechanisms. LSAT has shown the best results as regards the dielectric losses in the investigated regimes.
Scalable architectures characterized by quantum bits (qubits) with low error rates are essential to the development of a practical quantum computer. In the superconducting quantum computing implementation, understanding and minimizing material losses are crucial to the improvement of qubit performance. A new material that has recently received particular attention is indium, a low-temperature superconductor that can be used to bond pairs of chips containing standard aluminum-based qubit circuitry. In this work, we characterize microwave loss in indium and aluminum/indium thin films on silicon substrates by measuring superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators and estimating the main loss parameters at powers down to the sub-photon regime and at temperatures between 10 and 450 mK. We compare films deposited by thermal evaporation, sputtering, and molecular beam epitaxy. We study the effects of heating in a vacuum and ambient atmospheric pressure as well as the effects of pre-deposition wafer cleaning using hydrofluoric acid. The microwave measurements are supported by thin film metrology including secondary-ion mass spectrometry. For thermally evaporated and sputtered films, we find that two-level state are the dominant loss mechanism at low photon number and temperature, with a loss tangent due to native indium oxide of ∼5×10−5. The molecular beam epitaxial films show evidence of the formation of a substantial indium-silicon eutectic layer, which leads to a drastic degradation in resonator performance.
We have investigated both the temperature and the power dependence of microwave losses for various dielectrics commonly used as substrates for the growth of high critical temperature superconductor thin films. We present measurement of niobium superconducting λ∕2 coplanar waveguide resonators, fabricated on MgO, LaAlO3, and (La0.3Sr0.7)(Al0.65Ta0.35)O3 (LSAT), at the millikelvin temperature range and at low input power. By comparing our results with the two-level system model, we have discriminated among different dominant loss mechanisms. LSAT has shown the best results as regards the dielectric losses in the investigated regimes.
The performance of superconducting circuits for quantum computing is limited by materials losses. In particular, coherence times are typically bounded by two-level system (TLS) losses at single photon powers and millikelvin temperatures. The identification of low loss fabrication techniques, materials, and thin film dielectrics is critical to achieving scalable architectures for superconducting quantum computing. Superconducting microwave resonators provide a convenient qubit proxy for assessing performance and studying TLS loss and other mechanisms relevant to superconducting circuits such as non-equilibrium quasiparticles and magnetic flux vortices. In this review article, we provide an overview of considerations for designing accurate resonator experiments to characterize loss, including applicable types of losses, cryogenic setup, device design, and methods for extracting material and interface losses, summarizing techniques that have been evolving for over two decades. Results from measurements of a wide variety of materials and processes are also summarized. Finally, we present recommendations for the reporting of loss data from superconducting microwave resonators to facilitate materials comparisons across the field.
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Titanium nitride is an attractive material for a range of superconducting quantum-circuit applications owing to its low microwave losses, high surface inductance, and chemical stability. The physical properties and device performance, nevertheless, depend strongly on the quality of the materials. In this paper, we focus on the highly crystalline and epitaxial titanium nitride thin films deposited on sapphire substrates using magnetron sputtering at an intermediate temperature (${300}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}\mathrm{C}$). We performed a set of systematic and comprehensive material characterizations to thoroughly understand the structural, chemical, and transport properties. Microwave losses at low temperatures were studied using patterned microwave resonators, where the best internal quality factor in the single-photon regime is measured to be $3.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ and that in the high-power regime $>1.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$. Adjusted with the material filling factor of the resonators, the microwave loss-tangent here compares well with the previously reported best values for superconducting resonators. This work lays the foundation of using epitaxial titanium nitride for low-loss superconducting quantum circuits.