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Goltsman, G. N. (2009). Ultrafast nanowire superconducting single-photon detector with photon number resolving capability. In Y. Arakawa, M. Sasaki, & H. Sotobayashi (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 7236, 72360D (1 to 11)). SPIE.
Abstract: In this paper we present a review of the state-of-the-art superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD), its characterization and applications. We also present here the next step in the development of SSPD, i.e. photon-number resolving SSPD which simultaneously features GHz counting rate. We have demonstrated resolution up to 4 photons with quantum efficiency of 2.5% and 300 ps response pulse duration providing very short dead time.
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Korneev, A., Minaeva, O., Divochiy, A., Antipov, A., Kaurova, N., Seleznev, V., et al. (2007). Ultrafast and high quantum efficiency large-area superconducting single-photon detectors. In M. Dusek, M. S. Hillery, W. P. Schleich, I. Prochazka, A. L. Migdall, & A. Pauchard (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 6583, 65830I (1 to 9)). Spie.
Abstract: We present our latest generation of superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) patterned from 4-nm-thick NbN films, as meander-shaped 0.5-mm-long and 100-nm-wide stripes. The SSPDs exhibit excellent performance parameters in the visible-to-near-infrared radiation wavelengths: quantum efficiency (QE) of our best devices approaches a saturation level of 30% even at 4.2 K (limited by the NbN film optical absorption) and dark counts as low as 2x10-4 Hz. The presented SSPDs were designed to maintain the QE of large-active-area devices, but, unless our earlier SSPDs, hampered by a significant kinetic inductance and a nanosecond response time, they are characterized by a low inductance and GHz counting rates. We have designed, simulated, and tested the structures consisting of several, connected in parallel, meander sections, each having a resistor connected in series. Such new, multi-element geometry led to a significant decrease of the device kinetic inductance without the decrease of its active area and QE. The presented improvement in the SSPD performance makes our detectors most attractive for high-speed quantum communications and quantum cryptography applications.
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Titova, N. A., Baeva, E. M., Kardakova, A. I., & Goltsman, G. N. (2020). Fabrication of NbN/SiNx:H/SiO2 membrane structures for study of heat conduction at low temperatures. In J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (Vol. 1695, 012190).
Abstract: Here we report on the development of NbN/SiNx:H/SiO2-membrane structures for investigation of the thermal transport at low temperatures. Thin NbN films are known to be in the regime of a strong electron-phonon coupling, and one can assume that the phononic and electronic baths in the NbN are in local equilibrium. In such case, the cooling of the NbN-based devices strongly depends on acoustic matching to the substrate and substrate thermal characteristics. For the insulating membrane much thicker than the NbN film, our preliminary results demonstrate that the membrane serves as an additional channel for the thermal relaxation of the NbN sample. That implies a negligible role of thermal boundary resistance of the NbN-SiNx:H interface in comparison with the internal thermal resistance of the insulating membrane.
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Manova, N. N., Simonov, N. O., Korneeva, Y. P., & Korneev, A. A. (2020). Developing of NbN films for superconducting microstrip single-photon detector. In J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (Vol. 1695, 012116 (1 to 5)).
Abstract: We optimized NbN films on a Si substrate with a buffer SiO2 layer to produce superconducting microstrip single-photon detectors with saturated dependence of quantum efficiency (QE) versus normalized bias current. We varied thickness of films and observed the maximum QE saturation for device based on the thinner film with the lowest ratio RS300/RS20.
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Gousev, Y. P., Semenov, A. D., Gol'tsman, G. N., Sergeev, A. V., & Gershenzon, E. M. (1994). Electron-phonon interaction in disordered NbN films. Phys. B Condens. Mat., 194-196, 1355–1356.
Abstract: Electron-phonon interaction time has been investigated in disordered films of NbN. A temperatures below 5.5 K tau_eph ~ T -1"6 which is attributed to the renormalisation of phonon spectrum in thin films.
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Gao, J. R., Hajenius, M., Tichelaar, F. D., Klapwijk, T. M., Voronov, B., Grishin, E., et al. (2007). Monocrystalline NbN nanofilms on a 3C-SiC∕Si substrate. Appl. Phys. Lett., 91(6), 062504 (1 to 3).
Abstract: The authors have realized NbN (100) nanofilms on a 3C-SiC (100)/Si(100) substrate by dc reactive magnetron sputtering at 800°C. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is used to characterize the films, showing a monocrystalline structure and confirming epitaxial growth on the 3C-SiC layer. A film ranging in thickness from 3.4to4.1nm shows a superconducting transition temperature of 11.8K, which is the highest reported for NbN films of comparable thickness. The NbN nano-films on 3C-SiC offer a promising alternative to improve terahertz detectors. For comparison, NbN nanofilms grown directly on Si substrates are also studied by HRTEM.
The authors acknowledge S. V. Svetchnikov at National Centre for HRTEM at Delft, who prepared the specimens for HRTEM inspections. This work was supported by the EU through RadioNet and INTAS.
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Beebe, M. R., Beringer, D. B., Burton, M. C., Yang, K., & Lukaszew, R. A. (2016). Stoichiometry and thickness dependence of superconducting properties of niobium nitride thin films. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, 34(2), 021510 (1 to 4).
Abstract: The current technology used in linear particle accelerators is based on superconducting radio frequency (SRF) cavities fabricated from bulk niobium (Nb), which have smaller surface resistance and therefore dissipate less energy than traditional nonsuperconducting copper cavities. Using bulk Nb for the cavities has several advantages, which are discussed elsewhere; however, such SRF cavities have a material-dependent accelerating gradient limit. In order to overcome this fundamental limit, a multilayered coating has been proposed using layers of insulating and superconducting material applied to the interior surface of the cavity. The key to this multilayered model is to use superconducting thin films to exploit the potential field enhancement when these films are thinner than their London penetration depth. Such field enhancement has been demonstrated in MgB2 thin films; here, the authors consider films of another type-II superconductor, niobium nitride (NbN). The authors present their work correlating stoichiometry and superconducting properties in NbN thin films and discuss the thickness dependence of their superconducting properties, which is important for their potential use in the proposed multilayer structure. While there are some previous studies on the relationship between stoichiometry and critical temperature TC, the authors are the first to report on the correlation between stoichiometry and the lower critical field HC1.
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Baeva, E. M., Titova, N. A., Veyrat, L., Sacépé, B., Semenov, A. V., Goltsman, G. N., et al. (2021). Thermal relaxation in metal films limited by diffuson lattice excitations of amorphous substrates. Phys. Rev. Applied, 15(5), 054014.
Abstract: We examine the role of a silicon-based amorphous insulating substrate in the thermal relaxation in thin NbN, InOx, and Au/Ni films at temperatures above 5 K. The samples studied consist of metal bridges on an amorphous insulating layer lying on or suspended above a crystalline substrate. Noise thermometry is used to measure the electron temperature Te of the films as a function of Joule power per unit area P2D. In all samples, we observe a P2D∝Tne dependence, with exponent n≃2, which is inconsistent with both electron-phonon coupling and Kapitza thermal resistance. In suspended samples, the functional dependence of P2D(Te) on the length of the amorphous insulating layer is consistent with the linear temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity, which is related to lattice excitations (diffusons) for a phonon mean free path shorter than the dominant phonon wavelength. Our findings are important for understanding the operation of devices embedded in amorphous dielectrics.
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Gurovich, B. A., Tarkhov, M. A., Prikhod'ko, K. E., Kuleshova, E. A., Komarov, D. A., Stolyarov, V. L., et al. (2014). Controlled modification of superconducting properties of NbN ultrathin films under composite ion beam irradiation. Nanotechnologies in Russia, 9(7), 386–390.
Abstract: In this work, the results of studying the microstructure and superconducting properties of ultrathin films on the basis of NbN in the initial state and after modification by being subjecting to composite ion beam irradiation with the energy ~1–3) keV are presented. HRTEM analysis showed that the initial films on the sapphire substrate in orientation “c-cut†are characterized by a grain size essentially exceeding the film thickness, while on the other substrates the size of grains corresponds to the thickness of film. Using XPS analysis, it was shown that in the initial films the atomic ratio of Nb and N is 0.51/0.49, respectively, the percentage of oxygen being lower than 5%. For ultrathin films 5 nm in thickness, the critical temperature of transit to superconducting state (T c) is found to be ~3.6 K and the density of critical current is jc ~8MA/cm2. In the work it is experimentally determined that the irradiation of NbN films by composite ion beams leads to the controlled modification of its superconducting properties due to the process of selective substitution of nitrogen atoms on the oxygen atoms.
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Voronov, B. M., Gershenzon, E. M., Gol'tsman, G. N., Gubkina, T. O., & Semash, V. D. (1994). Superconductive properties of ultrathin NbN films on different substrates. Sverkhprovodimost': Fizika, Khimiya, Tekhnika, 7(6), 1097–1102.
Abstract: A study was made on dependence of surface resistance, critical temperature and width of superconducting transition on application temperature and thickness of NbN films, which varied within the range of 3-10 nm. Plates of sapphire, fused and monocrystalline quartz, MgO, as well as Si and silicon oxide were used as substrates. NbN films with 160 μθ·cm specific resistance and 16.5 K (Tc) critical temperature were obtained on sapphire substrates. Intensive growth of ΔTc was noted for films, applied on fused quartz, with increase of precipitation temperature. This is explained by occurrence of high tensile stresses in NbN films, caused by sufficient difference of thermal coefficients of expansion of NbN and quartz.
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