2022/07/12 by Johnson, B. C., Stuiber, M., Creedon, D. L. +8
#FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2207.05343
The development of a materials platform that exhibits both superconducting and semiconducting properties is an important endeavour for a range of emerging quantum technologies. We investigate the formation of superconductivity in nanowires fabricated with silicon-on-insulator (SOI). Aluminium from deposited contact electrodes is found to interdiffuses with the Si nanowire structures to form an Al-Si alloy along the entire length of the predefined nanowire device over micron length scales at temperatures well below that of the Al-Si eutectic. The resultant transformed nanowire structures are layered in geometry with a continuous Al-Si alloy wire sitting on the buried oxide of the SOI and a residual Si cap sitting on top of the wire. The phase transformed material is conformal with any predefined device patterns and the resultant structures are exceptionally smooth-walled compared to similar nanowire devices formed by silicidation processes. The superconducting properties of a mesoscopic AlSi ring formed on a SOI platform are investigated. Low temperature magnetoresistance oscillations, quantized in units of the fluxoid, h/2e, are observed.