Peeters, S. A., Lennon, C. T., Merkx, M. J.M., Hadfield, R. H. , Kessels, W. M. M. (E.), Verheijen, M. A. and Knoops, H. C. M. (2023) Ultrathin superconducting TaCxN1−x films prepared by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition with ion-energy control. Applied Physics Letters, 123, 132603. (doi: 10.1063/5.0169339)
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Abstract
This work demonstrates that plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD) with substrate biasing enables the preparation of ultrathin superconducting TaCxN1−x films. By comparing with films grown without substrate biasing, the enhanced ion energies yield a hundredfold reduction in room-temperature resistivity: a comparably low value of 217 μΩ cm is obtained for a 40 nm film. The ion-energy control enables tuning of the composition, counteracts oxygen impurity incorporation, and promotes a larger grain size. Correspondingly, the critical temperature of superconductivity (Tc) displays clear ion-energy dependence. With optimized ion energies, a consistently high Tc around 7 K is measured down to 11 nm film thickness. These results demonstrate the high ultrathin-film quality achievable through PEALD combined with substrate biasing. This process is particularly promising for the fabrication of low-loss superconducting quantum devices.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Lennon, Mr Ciaran and Hadfield, Professor Robert |
| Creator Roles: | Lennon, C.Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – review and editing Hadfield, R.Supervision, Writing – review and editing |
| Authors: | Peeters, S. A., Lennon, C. T., Merkx, M. J.M., Hadfield, R. H., Kessels, W. M. M. (E.), Verheijen, M. A., and Knoops, H. C. M. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering |
| Journal Name: | Applied Physics Letters |
| Publisher: | American Institute of Physics |
| ISSN: | 0003-6951 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1077-3118 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2023 Author(s) |
| First Published: | First published in Applied Physics Letters 123:132603 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence |
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