Etch induced microwave losses in titanium nitride superconducting resonators

Sandberg, M., Vissers, M. R., Kline, J. S., Weides, M. , Gao, J., Wisbey, D. S. and Pappas, D. P. (2012) Etch induced microwave losses in titanium nitride superconducting resonators. Applied Physics Letters, 100(26), 262605. (doi: 10.1063/1.4729623)

Abstract

We have investigated the correlation between the microwave loss and patterning method for coplanar waveguide titanium nitride resonators fabricated on silicon wafers. Three different methods were investigated: fluorine- and chlorine-based reactive ion etches and an argon-ion mill. At high microwave probe powers, the reactive etched resonators showed low internal loss, whereas the ion-milled samples showed dramatically higher loss. At single-photon powers, we found that the fluorine-etched resonators exhibited substantially lower loss than the chlorine-etched ones. We interpret the results by use of numerically calculated filling factors and find that the silicon surface exhibits a higher loss when chlorine-etched than when fluorine-etched. We also find from microscopy that re-deposition of silicon onto the photoresist and side walls is the probable cause for the high loss observed for the ion-milled resonators.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Weides, Professor Martin
• Authors: Sandberg, M., Vissers, M. R., Kline, J. S., Weides, M., Gao, J., Wisbey, D. S., and Pappas, D. P.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• ISSN: 0003-6951
• ISSN (Online): 1077-3118
• Published Online: 01 June 2012