Reducing 1/f noise in Al-AlOx-Al tunnel junctions by thermal annealing

Reduction of low-frequency 1/f noise in Al-AlOx-Al tunnel junctions by thermal annealing

We report that annealing Al-AlOx-Al tunnel junctions in a vacuum chamber at temperature of 400C reduces the characteristic 1/f noise in the junctions, in some cases by an order of magnitude. Both ultra high vacuum and high vacuum fabricated samples demonstrated a significant reduction in the 1/f noise level. Temperature dependence of the noise was studied between 4.2 and 340 Kelvin, with a linear dependence below 100 K, but a faster increase above. The results are consistent with a model where the density of charge trapping two level-systems within the tunneling barrier is reduced by the annealing process.

Stability, sub-gap current, 1/f-noise, and elemental depth profiling of annealed Al:Mn-AlOX-Al normal metal-insulator-superconducting tunnel junctions

In this paper we report a study of the effect of vacuum annealing at 400◦C on the properties of normal metal-insulator-superconductor (NIS) tunnel junctions, with manganese doped aluminium (Al:Mn) as the normal metal, aluminum as the superconductor and amorphous aluminum oxide as the tunneling barrier (Al:Mn-AlOx-Al). The annealing treatment improves the stability of the junctions, increases their tunneling resistance and does not have a negative impact on the low-temperature current-voltage characteristics. The measured 1 / f resistance noise of the junctions also changes after annealing, in the best case decreasing by over an order of magnitude. All these observations show that annealing …

Fabrication, Electrical Characterization and 1/f Noise Study of Submicron-sized Superconducting Tunnel Junctions

Microwave nanobolometer based on proximity Josephson junctions

We introduce a microwave bolometer aimed at high-quantum-efficiency detection of wave packet energy within the framework of circuit quantum electrodynamics, the ultimate goal being single microwave photon detection. We measure the differential thermal conductance between the detector and its heat bath, obtaining values as low as $5\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{fW}/\mathrm{K}$ at $50\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{mK}$. This is one tenth of the thermal conductance quantum and corresponds to a theoretical lower bound on noise-equivalent power of order ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}20}\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{W}/\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ at $50\phantom{\rule{4.pt}{0ex}}\text{mK}$. By measuring the dif…

Q values of the 76Ge and 100Mo double-beta decays

Abstract Penning trap measurements using mixed beams of 76Ge–76Se and 100Mo–100Ru have been utilized to determine the double-beta decay Q-values of 76Ge and 100Mo with uncertainties less than 200 eV. The value for 76Ge, 2039.04(16) keV is in agreement with the published SMILETRAP value, 2039.006(50) keV. The new value for 100Mo, 3034.40(17) keV is 30 times more precise than the previous literature value, sufficient for the ongoing neutrinoless double-beta decay searches in 100Mo. Moreover, the precise Q-value is used to calculate the phase-space integrals and the experimental nuclear matrix element of double-beta decay.

Applications and non-idealities of submicron Al–AlOx–Nb tunnel junctions

We have developed a technique to fabricate sub-micron, 0.6µm×0.6µm Al-AlOx-Nb tunnel junctions using a standard e-beam resist, angle evaporation and double oxidation of the tunneling barrier, resulting in high quality niobium, as determined by the the high measured values of the critical temperature TC ∼ 7.5 K and the gap ∆ ∼ 1.3 meV. The devices show great promise for local nanoscale thermometry in the temperature range 1 - 7.5 K. Electrical characterization of the junctions was performed at sub-Kelvin temperatures both with and without an external magnetic field, which was used to suppress superconductivity in Al and thus bring the junction into a normal-metal-insulator-superconductor (NI…