The superconductor-semiconductor Schottky barrier diode detector

Abstract

The superconductor-semiconductor contact diode, or super-Schottky-barrier-diode, has been examined theoretically and experimentally as a video detector of high-frequency radiation. The measured noise-equivalent power (NEP) of the device is believed to be the smallest value ever reported in the literature for video detection. Moreover, the high reliability established for the ordinary Schottky barrier diode is in evidence for the proposed diode. The doping of the semiconductor is chosen large enough so that electron tunneling dominates the volt-ampere behavior of the diode. As such, for T < Tc and V < Δ, the diode exhibits a high degree of nonlinearity in its volt-ampere characteristic. It is this nonlinearity that the super-Schottky-diode exploits. Initial results with p-type GaAs at 1 °K have yielded an NEP of 2 × 10−15 W/Hz1/2 at 10 GHz.

Hybrid High-Temperature-Superconductor–Semiconductor Tunnel Diode

“…The interaction of light with semiconductor-superconductor structures has recently emerged as a new interdisciplinary field of superconducting optoelectronics, with demonstrations of light emission from hybrid light-emitting diodes [7,8] enhanced by the superconducting state [9,10], and various proposals for novel lasers [11] and quantum light sources [12,13]. These hybrid devices have also proven useful in nonlinear electronics [14,15] and infrared detection [16], taking advantage of the relatively small size of the superconducting gap in the tunneling spectrum [17]. All previously studied semiconductor-superconductor devices were based on conventional low-criticaltemperature (low-T c ) superconductors, requiring cooling to extremely low temperatures.…”

Superconductive devices for millimeter wave detection, mixing, and amplification

“…The measured value of R i was 3,500 AW-l which was half of the quantum limited value e/hw and 0.79 of the value predicted from (8). This small discrepancy was ascribed to an RF impedance mismatch.…”

“…Nearly ideal super-Schottky junctions have been made with S=e/kT=7,70OV "1 at 1.5K and 11,660V "1 at 1K over a significant voltage range [8][9][10][11]. The S parameter would be infinite for an ideal SIS device biased at the voltage 2a/e.…”

“…The first type of quasiparticle junction to be used for detection and mixing experiments was the super-Schottky diode [8][9][10][11]. This is a superconductor-insulator-normal conductor (SIN) tunneling structure made with a superconducting Pb spot on a semiconducting substrate.…”

“…The first quasiparticle detection experiments were done at 9GHz by the Aerospace group using super-Schottky (SIN) diodes in the classical limit [8][9][10]. Values of R i = 2,200 AW 1 and NEP = 5.4xlO0 16 WHz 1 / 2 were measured.…”