A robust nitridation technique for fabrication of disordered superconducting TiN thin films featuring phase slip events

Yadav, Sachin; Kaushik, Vinay; Saravanan, M. P.; Aloysius, R.P.; Ganesan, V.; Sahoo, Sangeeta

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-86819-6

Cited by 7 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Importantly, I c0 and I c nm are having different values and the resistive steps start from the base temperature for all the three magnetic fields. Therefore, PS effects get facilitated by the application of magnetic field as reported previously [15,16]. I c0 varies with temperature in a similar fluctuating trend for 75 mT as that of zerofield case, however, for higher field, the fluctuations smoothen up.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

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Accessing phase slip events in Nb meander wires

Sawle¹,

Husale²,

Yadav³

et al. 2021

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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We report transport studies through Nb-based superconducting meander wires fabricated by focused ion beam milling technique. The effect of meandering on quantum transport has been probed experimentally by a direct comparison with the pristine thin-film device before meandering. The normal metal (NM) to superconductor (SC) phase transition becomes a wide and multi-step transition by meandering. Below the transition temperature (T c), the resistance-versus-temperature measurements reveal resistive tailing which is explained by the thermally activated phase slip (TAPS) mechanism. The TAPS fit indicates a selective region of the meander to be responsible for the resistive tailing. Besides, the phase slip (PS) mechanism in the meander is evident in its current–voltage characteristics that feature the stair-case type intermediate resistive steps (IRSs) during the SC–NM transition. The modulation of the IRSs is investigated with respect to temperature and external magnetic field. It is observed that the PS events are facilitated by magnetic fields up to about 250 mT. Further, the critical current varies strongly on the temperature and magnetic field for T < 0.5 T c and H ⩽ 100 mT where it fluctuates in an oscillatory manner. Finally, Nb based meander structures can be promising candidates for future PS based studies and applications.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Disordered SCs in dirty limit with high normal state resistance (R N ) are the promising candidates for PS studies [14]. Recently, it has been shown that the transition metal nitrides are good candidates for PS studies [15,16]. Further, dilute magnetic doping is shown to trigger the PS events in NbGd films [8,17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accessing phase slip events in Nb meander wires

Sawle¹,

Husale²,

Yadav³

et al. 2021

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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“…Furthermore, the sample specific characteristic parameters like Ta, film thickness (d), sheet resistance (Rmax) at Tmax before superconducting transition, superconducting critical temperature (Tc) as obtained by QCC fit, sheet resistance at 300 K (R300 K), upper critical field at T= 0 K (Bc2(0)), Diffusion constant (D) & the thermal coherence length (LT) at 100 K for all the TiN samples are listed in Table 1. Further, the presence of non-superconducting minority phases like TiSi2 & elemental Si in these substrate mediated TiN thin films [19] induces disorder and disordered 2D systems are ideal candidates where WL & EEI in diffusion channel (ID) play prominent roles for the appearance of an upturn and corresponding resistive peak at Tmax in the zero-field R(T). Inclined to this, we have followed here the 2D treatment with WL and EEI to address the observed upturn in the zero-field R(T).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ti thin film deposited substrates were annealed at different annealing temperatures of about (820C, 780C & 750C) for 2 hours at a pressure less than 5 x 10 -8 Torr. During the annealing process, Ti transformed into TiN by the substrate mediated nitridation technique [18][19][20][21] where…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Probing electron-electron interaction along with superconducting fluctuations in disordered TiN thin films

Yadav

Kaushik²,

Saravanan³

et al. 2023

Phys. Rev. B

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In 2D disordered superconductors prior to superconducting transition, the appearance of a resistance peak in the temperature dependent resistance [R(T)] measurements indicates the presence of weak localization (WL) & electron-electron interaction (EEI) in diffusion channel and superconducting fluctuations in the Cooper channel. Here, we demonstrate an interplay between superconducting fluctuations and electronelectron interaction by low temperature magnetotransport measurements for a set of 2D disordered TiN thin films. While cooling down the sample, a characteristic temperature T* is obtained from the R(T) at which superconducting fluctuations start to appear. The upturn in R(T) above T* corresponds to WL and/or EEI. By the temperature and field dependences of the observed resistance, we show that the upturn in R(T) originates mainly from EEI with a negligible contribution from WL. Further, we have used the modified Larkin's electron-electron attraction strength β(T/Tc), containing a field induced pair breaking parameter, in the Maki-Thompson (MT) superconducting fluctuation term. Here, the temperature dependence of the β(T/Tc) obtained from the magnetoresistance analysis shows a diverging behavior close to Tc and it remains almost constant at higher temperature within the limit of ln(T/Tc) <1. Interestingly, the variation of β(T/Tc) on the reduced temperature (T/Tc) offers a common trend which has been closely followed by all the concerned samples presented in this study. Finally, the temperature dependence of inverse phase scattering time (𝜏 𝜙 −1 ), as obtained from the magnetoresistance analysis, clearly shows two different regimes; the first one close to Tc follows the Ginzburg-Landau relaxation rate (𝜏 𝐺𝐿 −1 ), whereas, the second one at high temperature varies almost linearly with temperature indicating the dominance of inelastic electron-electron scattering for the dephasing mechanism. These two regimes are followed in a generic way by all the samples in spite of being grown under different growth conditions.

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“…Over the last few decades, disordered superconductors are at the center of attention in the field of condensed matter physics as they offer ideal platforms to explore various quantum phenomena such as quantum phase transition, quantum fluctuations, quantum criticality, quantum interference, quantum phase slip among the others [1,2]. In superconducting alloys and composite materials, the level of disorder can be easily tuned by changing the constituent elements and hence the transport properties can also be altered by tuning the composition [3][4][5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion mediated growth of superconducting Nb-Ti composite films by high temperature annealing

Sawle,

Awana,

Sahoo

2023

Phys. Scr.

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The fabrication of superconducting Nb-Ti alloy by high temperature annealing of Nb/Ti bilayer thin films is reported here. During the annealing process, Nb and Ti diffuse into each other and Nb-Ti composite film formation occurs at the interface of the bilayer. Two types of substrates, namely, SiO2/Si and Si3N4/Si are used to grow the bilayers of Nb/Ti by using dc magnetron sputtering. Annealing at temperature about 820C leads the substrates to take part into the diffusion process. The alloying of Nb-Ti and the effect of substrates on the structural properties are studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Ti-rich Nb-Ti phases are present in the XRD while interface studies through XPS confirms the interdiffusion of the two elements Nb and Ti along with the presence of the decomposed elements from the substrates. Appearance of nitride phases in case of Si3N4/Si substrate confirms the substrate’s involvement in the diffusion process. Further low temperature transport measurements are carried out to study the superconducting properties of the Nb-Ti composite films grown on both oxide (SiO2/Si) and nitride (Si3N4/Si) substrates. Nb-Ti composite films offer higher transition temperature (TC) compared to that of pure Nb with similar thickness used in Nb/Ti bilayer films. Higher normal state resistance (RN) with wider transition width for Nb-Ti on nitride substrate in comparison with the oxide substrate indicates a possible role of N atoms in tuning the disorder and hence controlling the transport properties. Finally, the presented method can be used to fabricate superconducting stoichiometric NbTi and NbTiN thin films for future phase slip and superconducting single photon detector-based applications.

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A robust nitridation technique for fabrication of disordered superconducting TiN thin films featuring phase slip events

Cited by 7 publications

References 42 publications

Accessing phase slip events in Nb meander wires

Accessing phase slip events in Nb meander wires

Probing electron-electron interaction along with superconducting fluctuations in disordered TiN thin films

Diffusion mediated growth of superconducting Nb-Ti composite films by high temperature annealing

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