Preserving the Josephson Coupling of Twisted Cuprate Junctions via Tailored Silicon Nitride Circuits Boards

Confalone, Tommaso; Lo Sardo, Flavia; Montemurro, Domenico; Massarotti, Davide; Vinokur, Valerii M.; Gu, Genda; Tafuri, Francesco; Nielsch, Kornelius; Haider, Golam; Poccia, Nicola

doi:10.1002/smll.202506520

Preserving the Josephson Coupling of Twisted Cuprate Junctions via Tailored Silicon Nitride Circuits Boards

Journal Article · Tue Nov 11 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Small

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202506520· OSTI ID:3005232

^[1]; Lo Sardo, Flavia ^[1]; ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[5]; ^[6]

Leibniz Inst. for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), Dresden (Germany); Technische Universität Dresden (Germany)
Univ. of Naples Federico II (Italy)
Terra Quantum AG, St. Gallen (Switzerland)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Leibniz Inst. for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), Dresden (Germany)
Leibniz Inst. for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), Dresden (Germany); Univ. of Naples Federico II (Italy)

Controlled fabrication of twisted van der Waals heterostructures is essential to unlock the full potential of moiré materials. However, achieving reproducibility remains a major challenge, particularly for air-sensitive materials such as Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_{8 + δ} (BSCCO), where it is crucial to preserve the intrinsic and delicate superconducting properties of the interface throughout the entire fabrication process. Here, a dry, inert and cryogenic assembly method is presented that combines silicon nitride nanomembranes (NMBs) with pre-patterned electrodes and the cryogenic stacking technique (CST) to fabricate high-quality twisted BSCCO Josephson junctions (JJs). This protocol prevents thermal and chemical degradation during both interface formation and electrical contact integration. It is also found that asymmetric membrane designs, such as a double cantilever, effectively suppress vibration-induced disorder due to wire bonding, resulting in sharp and hysteretic current–voltage characteristics. The junctions exhibit a twist-angle-dependent Josephson coupling with magnitudes comparable to the highest-performing devices reported to date, but achieved through a straightforward and versatile contact method, offering a scalable and adaptable platform for future applications. These findings highlight the importance of both interface and contact engineering in addressing reproducibility in superconducting van der Waals heterostructures.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: European Research Council (ERC); German Research Foundation (DFG); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 3005232

Report Number(s):: BNL--229175-2025-JAAM

Journal Information:: Small, Journal Name: Small Journal Issue: 50 Vol. 21; ISSN 1613-6810; ISSN 1613-6829

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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