RF-sputter-deposited magnesium oxide films as high-quality adjustable tunnel barriers

Conference · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · IEEE Trans. Magn.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6044374

Villegier, J C; Radparvar, M; Yu, L S; Faris, S M

High quality RF-sputtered MgO films are used as tunnel barriers to fabricate small area, niobium nitride Josephson tunnel junctions. A magnesium oxide barrier deposited as a single layer, or as a multilayer film, results in devices with similar characteristics. Annealing trilayers at temperatures in excess of 250/sup 0/C for several hours decrease junction current density and improve device quality presumably by increasing barrier heights through reducing resonant tunneling states. A self-aligned process utilizing only two mask levels is used to produce junctions as small as 0.5 ..mu..m/sup 2/ with excellent critical current uniformity. These junctions exhibit energy gaps of 5.1 mV and low subgap currents at current densities in excess of 1000 A/cm/sup 2/ which make them suitable for a variety of applications such as SIS mixers and logic circuits.

• Research Organization: HYPRES, Inc., Elmsford, NY (US)
• OSTI ID: 6044374
• Report Number(s): CONF-880812-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: IEEE Trans. Magn.; (United States) Journal Volume: 25:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360201 -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Preparation & Fabrication
360204 -- Ceramics
Cermets
& Refractories-- Physical Properties
420201* -- Engineering-- Cryogenic Equipment & Devices
656003 -- Condensed Matter Physics-- Interactions between Beams & Condensed Matter-- (1987-)
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALKALINE EARTH METAL COMPOUNDS
ANNEALING
CHALCOGENIDES
CURRENT DENSITY
DESIGN
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
ENERGY GAP
FABRICATION
FILMS
HEAT TREATMENTS
JOSEPHSON JUNCTIONS
JUNCTIONS
LOGIC CIRCUITS
MAGNESIUM COMPOUNDS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
NIOBIUM COMPOUNDS
NIOBIUM NITRIDES
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PNICTIDES
REFRACTORY METAL COMPOUNDS
RF SYSTEMS
SPUTTERING
SUPERCONDUCTING FILMS
SUPERCONDUCTING JUNCTIONS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS