0000000000387675
AUTHOR
M. R. Nevala
Fabrication and Characterization of Epitaxial NbN/TaN/NbN Josephson Junctions Grown by Pulsed Laser Ablation
We report fabrication and characterization of epitaxial NbN/TaN/NbN Josephson junctions grown by pulsed laser ablation. These SNS junctions can be used as elements of rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) logic, which is a promising technology for high speed digital electronic devices. The NbN/TaN/NbN trilayer films were prepared on a single crystal MgO substrate by pulsed laser ablation, and patterned into junctions using a novel process utilizing e-beam lithography, chemical vapor deposition and e-beam evaporation. The quality of junctions was tested by measuring the temperature dependence of the junctions' IcRn values, observed to be quite close to theoretical values.
Irreversibility of the threshold field for dendritic flux avalanches in superconductors
Hysteretic effects are seen in the upper and lower threshold fields for the appearance of dendritic flux instabilities, first explained in Yurchenko et al. [Phys. Rev. B 76 (2007) 092504], in NbN-films. We have measured the threshold fields at increasing and decreasing applied fields at different temperatures and proposed a mechanism explaining how the hysteresis arises by analyzing the field profiles inside the sample.
Infrared pulsed laser deposition of niobium nitride thin films
We have successfully fabricated superconducting niobium nitride thin films on single crystals of magnesium oxide using a pulsed laser deposition technique where 1064 nm (photon energy ~1.16 eV) laser pulses from an Nd:YAG laser were used for ablation. A correlation between the superconducting transition temperature, the nitrogen base pressure during deposition and the lattice parameter of the produced NbN films was observed. Superconductor-insulator-normal metal junctions fabricated using these NbN films as the superconductor revealed nonlinear electrical characteristics at 4.2 K associated with quasiparticle tunneling.
Reentrant stability of superconducting films and the vanishing of dendritic flux instability
We propose a mechanism responsible for the abrupt vanishing of the dendritic flux instability found in many superconducting films when an increasing magnetic field is applied. The onset of flux avalanches and the subsequent reentrance of stability in NbN films were investigated using magneto-optical imaging, and the threshold fields were measured as functions of critical current density ${j}_{c}$. The results are explained with excellent quantitative agreement by a thermomagnetic model published recently [D. V. Denisov et al., Phys. Rev. B 73, 014512 (2006)], showing that the reentrant stability is a direct consequence of a monotonously decreasing ${j}_{c}$ versus field.
Reentrant stability of superconducting films
We propose a mechanism responsible for the abrupt vanishing of the dendritic flux instability found in many superconducting films when an increasing magnetic field is applied. The onset of flux avalanches and the subsequent reentrance of stability in NbN films was investigated using magneto-optical imaging, and the threshold fields were measured as functions of critical current density, $j_c$. The results are explained with excellent quantitative agreement by a thermomagnetic model published recently, Phys. Rev. B73, 014512 (2006), showing that the reentrant stability is a direct consequence of a monotonously decreasing $j_c$ versus field.