Superconducting transition metal nitride films for THz SIS mixers

Author

Iosad, N.N. ; Roddatis, V.V. ; Polyakov, S.N. ; Varlashkin, A.V. ; Jackson, B.D. ; Dmitriev, P.N. ; Gao, J.R. ; Klapwijk, T.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Appl. Phys., Delft Univ. of Technol., Netherlands

Volume

11

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

3/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

3832

Lastpage

3835

Abstract

The development of sensitive THz SIS mixers requires a low-loss superconducting strip-line material with a transition temperature above 15 K. In this paper we examine the properties of (Nb,Ti)N, NbN, and (Nb,Zr)N thin films sputtered at ambient substrate temperature on glass wafers. The best properties are observed for the (Nb,Ti)N films, sputtered from an NbTi alloy target with 30 at.% Ti. A similar picture is observed for the epitaxial films deposited on the MgO wafers. We have also examined the homogeneity of the (Nb,Ti)N films versus film thickness and in plane since this factor is clearly important for the microwave behavior of the strip-line. We observe that (Nb,Ti)N films deposited on silicon, sapphire, and glass wafers have much worse homogeneity compared to the films deposited on the MgO wafers

Keywords

microstrip lines; microwave mixers; niobium compounds; sputtered coatings; superconducting microwave devices; superconducting thin films; superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers; titanium compounds; type II superconductors; zirconium compounds; Al₂O₃; MgO; MgO wafers; NbN; NbTiN; NbZrN; Si; Si wafers; THz SIS mixers; epitaxial films; film thickness; glass wafers; homogeneity; low-loss superconducting strip-line material; sapphire wafers; sputtered films; transition metal nitride films; Glass; Semiconductor films; Superconducting devices; Superconducting epitaxial layers; Superconducting films; Superconducting materials; Superconducting microwave devices; Superconducting thin films; Superconducting transition temperature; Temperature sensors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.919900

Filename

919900