Deposition of NbN Superconducting Thin Films Using Ion Beam Assisted Sputtering
ORAL
Abstract
Transition metal nitrides are a large family of materials with wide range of electronic and mechanical properties, making them a popular choice for applications in protective coatings, quantum optics or superconducting electronic devices. Typical member of this family is NbN, which is a superconductor used predominantly in the field of single photon detectors. Using the common preparation method of reactive magnetron sputtering, temperatures of up to 650 oC are required to achieve high-Tc supercondicting crystal phase in this material, making it incompatible with many processes and materials. In this presentation, we report on a new method of deposition of NbN films, where we utilize ion beam assisted sputtering. Using this method, high-Tc NbN films deposited at room temperature can be achieved with added benefit of dramaticaly reduced sensitivity of Tc to N2 concentration. We also present results of systematic study of the materials electric, magnetic and structural properties as functions of the nitrogen ion concentration and energy and compare them to films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering.
*This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Offices of Nuclear Physics and Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.
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Presenters
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Tomas Polakovic
- Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory
- Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory
- Physics Department, Drexel University