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Title: Room temperature deposition of superconducting niobium nitride films by ion beam assisted sputtering

Abstract

We use room temperature ion beam assisted sputtering to deposit niobium nitride thin films. Electrical and structural characterizations were performed by electric transport and magnetization measurements at variable temperatures, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. Compared to reactive sputtering of niobium nitride, films sputtered in the presence of an ion beam show a remarkable increase in the superconducting critical temperature T c, while exhibiting lower sensitivity to nitrogen concentration during deposition. Thickness dependence of the superconducting critical temperature is comparable to films prepared by conventional methods at high substrate temperatures and is consistent with behavior driven by quantum size effects or weak localization.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [5];  [6]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Physics Division; Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
  3. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). High Energy Physics Division
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Physics Division
  5. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
  6. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Physics Division. Materials Science Division
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Complex Materials from First Principles (CCM); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP) (SC-26); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
OSTI Identifier:
1466282
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1461926
Grant/Contract Number:  
[AC02-06CH11357; SC0012575]
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
APL Materials
Additional Journal Information:
[ Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 7]; Journal ID: ISSN 2166-532X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; electrical resistivity; phase transitions; X-ray diffraction; thin films; sputter deposition; superconductivity

Citation Formats

Polakovic, Tomas, Lendinez, Sergi, Pearson, John E., Hoffmann, Axel, Yefremenko, Volodymyr, Chang, Clarence L., Armstrong, Whitney, Hafidi, Kawtar, Karapetrov, Goran, and Novosad, Valentine. Room temperature deposition of superconducting niobium nitride films by ion beam assisted sputtering. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5031904.
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Polakovic, Tomas, Lendinez, Sergi, Pearson, John E., Hoffmann, Axel, Yefremenko, Volodymyr, Chang, Clarence L., Armstrong, Whitney, Hafidi, Kawtar, Karapetrov, Goran, & Novosad, Valentine. Room temperature deposition of superconducting niobium nitride films by ion beam assisted sputtering. United States. doi:10.1063/1.5031904.
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Polakovic, Tomas, Lendinez, Sergi, Pearson, John E., Hoffmann, Axel, Yefremenko, Volodymyr, Chang, Clarence L., Armstrong, Whitney, Hafidi, Kawtar, Karapetrov, Goran, and Novosad, Valentine. Fri . "Room temperature deposition of superconducting niobium nitride films by ion beam assisted sputtering". United States. doi:10.1063/1.5031904. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466282.
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@article{osti_1466282,
title = {Room temperature deposition of superconducting niobium nitride films by ion beam assisted sputtering},
author = {Polakovic, Tomas and Lendinez, Sergi and Pearson, John E. and Hoffmann, Axel and Yefremenko, Volodymyr and Chang, Clarence L. and Armstrong, Whitney and Hafidi, Kawtar and Karapetrov, Goran and Novosad, Valentine},
abstractNote = {We use room temperature ion beam assisted sputtering to deposit niobium nitride thin films. Electrical and structural characterizations were performed by electric transport and magnetization measurements at variable temperatures, X-ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. Compared to reactive sputtering of niobium nitride, films sputtered in the presence of an ion beam show a remarkable increase in the superconducting critical temperature Tc, while exhibiting lower sensitivity to nitrogen concentration during deposition. Thickness dependence of the superconducting critical temperature is comparable to films prepared by conventional methods at high substrate temperatures and is consistent with behavior driven by quantum size effects or weak localization.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5031904},
journal = {APL Materials},
number = [7],
volume = [6],
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {7}
}
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DOI:  10.1063/1.5031904
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