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Research on superconducting signal processing devices. Final technical report

T. Van Duzer

Published Jan 1, 1975• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

An understanding of the role of alloying elements in lead thin films for use as Josephson junctions was achieved, and thermally cyclable devices were made. Gold is one of the elements which strongly inhabit the movement of grain boundaries and thus prevent the growth of hillocks and whiskers on the film which would puncture the thin oxide barrier. A new technology in which thin silicon membranes supported by a surrounding frame can be used for device fabrication was developed. This includes a double-etching scheme to achieve even submicron size membranes having thickness of no more than a few hundred angstroms. We have shown that advantages can be had by fabricating Schottky and super-Schottky diodes on such membranes. Also, Josephson junctions made this way show promise of great design flexibility and may develop into the best Josephson device for mixing and detection. Two ways of making double weak superconducting links for possible use as switching elements were tested. It appears that the impedance level is lower than would be desired for that application for the dimensions used so far but fabrication by electron lithography would increase it. The semiconductor barrier is analyzed, as a possible Josephson junction switching element and itmore » appears to have some advantages. One of these is a lower Q for the junction cavity; our analysis shows about two orders of magnitude improvement in this regard over oxide-barrier junctions. (GRA)« less

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An understanding of the role of alloying elements in lead thin films for use as Josephson junctions was achieved, and thermally cyclable devices were made. Gold is one of the elements which strongly inhabit the movement of grain boundaries and thus prevent the growth of hillocks and whiskers on the film which would puncture the thin oxide barrier. A new technology in which thin silicon membranes supported by a surrounding frame can be used for device fabrication was developed. This includes a double-etching scheme to achieve even submicron size membranes having thickness of no more than a few hundred angstroms. We have shown that advantages can be had by fabricating Schottky and super-Schottky diodes on such membranes. Also, Josephson junctions made this way show promise of great design flexibility and may develop into the best Josephson device for mixing and detection. Two ways of making double weak superconducting links for possible use as switching elements were tested. It appears that the impedance level is lower than would be desired for that application for the dimensions used so far but fabrication by electron lithography would increase it. The semiconductor barrier is analyzed, as a possible Josephson junction switching element and itmore » appears to have some advantages. One of these is a lower Q for the junction cavity; our analysis shows about two orders of magnitude improvement in this regard over oxide-barrier junctions. (GRA)« less
Superconducting devices with coplanar electrodes have been fabricated using electron-beam lithography to define the smallest feature. The devices each consist of two Pb-In alloy electrodes, 20 µm wide, deposited on a clean, degenerately doped silicon substrate. The two electrodes are separated by a thin (100-300-nm) gap. Electron-beam lithography is used to define the gap, and sputter etching to remove the underlying alloy film. Depending on the width of the gap and the condition of the metal-semiconductor interface, these devices displayed either Josephson or super-Schottky diode behavior. The Josephson devices show a high degree of robustness and hadI_{c}Rproducts in the range 200-800 µV at 4.2 K. The super-Schottky diodes had current sensitivities S in the range 1000-1300 V-1when measured at 4.2 K.
Josephson junctions are used as active devices in superconducting electronics and quantum information technology. Outstanding properties are their distinct non-linear electrical characteristics and a usually sinusoidal relation between the current and the superconducting phase difference across the junction. In general the insertion of ferromagnetic material in the barrier of a Josephson junction is associated with a suppression of superconducting correlations. But also new phenomena can arise which may allow new circuit layouts and enhance the performance of applications. This thesis presents a systematic investigation for two concepts to fabricate Josephson junctions with a rather uncommon negative critical current. Such devices exhibit an intrinsic phase slip of Pi between the electrodes, so they are also known as Pi-junctions. Both studies go well beyond existing experiments and in one system a Pi-junction is shown for the first time. All the thin film junctions are based on superconducting Nb electrodes. In a first approach, barriers made from Si and Fe were investigated with respect to the realisation of Pi-junctions by spin-flip processes. The distribution of Fe in the Si matrix was varied from pure layers to disperse compounds. The systematic fabrication of alloy barriers was facilitated by the development of a novel timing-based combinatorial sputtering technique for planetary deposition systems. An orthogonal gradient approach allowed to create binary layer libraries with independent variations of thickness and composition. Second, Nb | AlOx | Nb | Ni60Cu40 | Nb (SIsFS) double barrier junctions were experimentally studied for the occurrence of proximity effect induced order parameter oscillations. Detailed dependencies of the critical current density on the thickness of s-layer and F-layer were acquired and show a remarkable agreement to existing theoretical predictions. Especially a variation of jc and IcRn by the s-layer thickness up to the value of nonmagnetic SIS junctions is notable. Additionally information on the emergence of superconductivity with the s-layer thickness was acquired.
The goals of the work were to fabricate superconductive thin-film constrictions with an electron microscope and to test them as mixers. During the grant period indium and vanadium constrictions were made with submicron dimensions and these were tested in detection and mixing modes. Most of the tests were conducted at X-band frequencies and some were done at V-band. A computer program was developed to study the theoretical behavior of a circuit model of Josephson devices such as thin-film constrictions. Considerable information was derived from the calculations and good agreement with experiments was obtained in some cases. In the process of developing sufficient understanding of electron-resist exposures, the author worked out a theory which gives general guidance for the use of electron resists for microdevice fabrication. Simple arrays of two and three devices were studied under dc conditions. A theoretical description of a generally asymmetric array was developed, taking account of the self- and mutual inductances.
A multilevel thin-film process has been developed for fabricating experimental circuits containing Josephson tunneling gates, insulated crossings, superconducting contacts, and terminating resistors. The process utilizes a Nb film for the ground plane and Pb alloy films for overlying superconducting layers. Insulation is achieved through the use of vacuum-deposited SiO films and anodization of the Nb ground plane. An oxide formed by rf sputter-etching in an oxygen plasma is used for forming the tunneling barriers. Photoprocessing techniques are used for patterning. Through use of the process it has been possible to fabricate experimental memory and logic circuits which survive thermal cycling to 4.2 K and intervening storage at room temperature without significant changes in electrical characteristics.
A procedure is described for fabricating thin film Nb/Nb oxide/Pb-alloy Josephson tunnel junctions that satisfies the principal requirements for integrated circuit design and fabrication. A deposited Nb film, evaporated from an e-gun heated source, was patterned by chemical etching to form a base electrode. A junction was completed by plasma etching and plasma oxidizing the Nb junction area to form a tunnel barrier and by depositing a Pb alloy counterelectrode. Josephson tunnel junctions with Nb/Nb oxide/Pb-Au-In structures were prepared with low excess subgap currents in the current-voltage (I-V) curve and with reproducible and stable I-V characteristics. Variations in junction current density from run-run were ± 15%. Seven 3-junction interferomeeters out of a population of 50,000 were shorted (99.99% yield) for causes not immediately attributable to photoresist-related defects. No changes in Josephson current were detected after thermal cycling 17,000 interferometers 1,800 × between room temperature and 4.2°K, after storing them for 2 years at 5°C, or after annealing 5,000 interferometers for 4.5 hours at 70°C.
Recent improvements in materials growth and fabrication techniques may finally allow for superconducting semiconductors to realize their potential. Here, we build on a recent proposal to construct superconducting devices such as wires, Josephson junctions, and qubits inside and out-of single crystal silicon or germanium. Using atomistic fabrication techniques such as STM hydrogen lithography, heavily doped superconducting regions within a single crystal could be constructed. We describe the characteristic parameters of basic superconducting elements-a 1-D wire and a tunneling Josephson junction-and estimate the values for boron-doped silicon. The epitaxial, single-crystal nature of these devices, along with the extreme flexibility in device design down to the single-atom scale, may enable lower noise or new types of devices and physics. We consider applications for such supersilicon devices, showing that the state-of-the-art transmon qubit and the sought-after phase-slip qubit can both be realized. The latter qubit leverages the natural high kinetic inductance of these materials. Building on this, we explore how kinetic inductance-based particle detectors (e.g., photon or phonon) could be realized with potential application in astronomy or nanomechanics. We discuss supersemi devices (such as in silicon, germanium, or diamond) which would not require atomistic fabrication approaches and could be realized today.