Silicided nanowires for nanobridge weak links
Silicided nanowires as nanobridges in Josephson junctions. A superconducting silicided nanowire is used as a weak-link bridge in a Josephson junction, and a fabrication process is employed to produce silicided nanowires that includes patterning two junction banks and a rough nanowire from a silicon substrate, reshaping the nanowire through hydrogen annealing, and siliciding the nanowire by introduction of a metal into the nanowire structure.
1. A method for forming a superconducting weak-link junction, the method comprising:
patterning a first junction bank, a second junction bank, and a rough nanowire from a silicon substrate;
reshaping the nanowire through hydrogen annealing; and
siliciding the nanowire by introduction of a metal into the nanowire,
wherein the nanowire is at least one of shaped, sized, structured, located or connected to form a weak-link bridge between the first junction bank and the second junction bank.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the silicidation results in a single domain of a single-crystal silicide throughout the extent of the nanowire.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal is one of: cobalt, nickel, niobium, palladium, platinum, or tungsten.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the silicidation results in formation of a nickel silicide throughout the extent of the nanowire having a one-to-one stoichiometric relationship between nickel and silicon and a chemical formula NiSi.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the metal is applied through a lift-off deposition process.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the silicon substrate is located on top of a sapphire substrate.
7. A method for forming a superconducting weak-link junction, the method comprising:
patterning a first junction bank, a second junction bank, and a rough nanowire from a silicon substrate;
reshaping the nanowire through hydrogen annealing; and
siliciding the nanowire by diffusion of a metal through at least the first junction bank,
wherein the nanowire is at least one of shaped, sized, structured, located or connected to form a weak-link bridge between the first junction bank and the second junction bank.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein:
diffusion of the metal through the first junction bank results in silicidation of a first portion of the nanowire; and
the silicidation of the first portion of the nanowire produces a single domain of a single-crystal silicide in the first portion of the nanowire.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the silicidation results in a single domain of a single-crystal silicide throughout the extent of the nanowire.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein the reshaping produces a nanowire having a cross-sectional diameter in the range of 3 nanometers to 200 nanometers.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein the reshaping produces a nanowire having a line-edge roughness of less than 0.5 nanometers.
12. The method of claim 7 wherein the silicidation results in formation of a nickel silicide throughout the extent of the nanowire having a one-to-one stoichiometric relationship between nickel and silicon and a chemical formula NiSi.