Shaping the superconducting properties of nanoscale junctions by electromigration

ORAL

Abstract

High current densities in small metallic junctions can produce electron-assisted atomic diffusion known since the 60’s as responsible for failures in metallic interconnections. Controlling and using this phenomenon permits one to tune the material superconducting properties at the nanoscale[1]. Here we demonstrate its reversible character for three types of superconductors: Al, Nb and LCCO[2]. For the latter material, we show that selective migration of oxygen atoms and the consequent doping modification induces a transition from a superconducting state to an insulating state in a reversible way. For the case of Nb, a high level of control of the electromigration allowed us to locally change the material properties (superconducting critical temperature and normal state resistance) and to form in situ tunable weak links. Numerical simulations within the Ginzburg-Landau formalism are also presented and show excellent agreement with the experimental data. These findings provide an easy method for the in situ fabrication of weak links and pave the way for a reversible control of nanowires properties.
[1] X. D. A. Baumans et al., Nat. Comm., 7, 10560 (2016)
[2] X. D. A. Baumans et al., Small, 1700384 (2017)

*The authors thank the FRS-FNRS and the University of Liège for financial support.

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Presenters

  • Joseph Lombardo

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

Authors

  • Joseph Lombardo

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

  • Xavier Baumans

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

  • Zeljko Jelic

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

  • Jeremy Brisbois

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

  • Gorky Shaw

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège

  • Vyacheslav Zharinov

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, K.U. Leuven

  • Jeroen Scheerder

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, K.U. Leuven

  • Victor Moshchalkov

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, K.U. Leuven

  • Ge He

    • National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, , Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Heshan Yu

    • National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, , Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Jie Yuan

    • Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, , Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • National Lab for Superconductivity, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

  • Beiyi Zhu

    • National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, , Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • Kui Jin

    • Institute of Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, , Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences
    • National Lab for Superconductivity, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)

  • Roman B. G. Kramer

    • Institut Néel, Université Grenoble-Alpes

  • Milorad Milosevic

    • Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen
    • Department of Physics, Universiteit of Antwerpen

  • Joris Van de Vondel

    • Department of Physics and Astronomy, K.U. Leuven

  • Alejandro Silhanek

    • Department of Physics, University of Liège