Interface steps in field effect devices

The charge doped into a semiconductor in a field effect transistor (FET) is generally confined to the interface of the semiconductor. A planar step at the interface causes a potential drop due to the strong electric field of the FET, which in turn is screened by the doped carriers. We analyze the dipolar electronic structure of a single step in the Thomas-Fermi approximation and find that the transmission coefficient through the step is exponentially suppressed by the electric field and the induced carrier density as well as by the step height. In addition, the field enhancement at the step edge can facilitate the electric breakthrough of the insulating layer. We suggest that these two effects may lead to severe problems when engineering FET devices with very high doping. On the other hand steps can give rise to interesting physics in superconducting FETs by forming weak links and potentially creating atomic size Josephson junctions.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Appl. Phy

Disorder- and magnetic field-tuned fermionic superconductor-insulator transition in MoN thin films. Transport and STM studies

Superconductor-insulator transition (SIT) driven by disorder and transverse magnetic field has been investigated in ultrathin MoN films by means of transport measurements and scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. Upon decreasing thickness, the homogeneously disordered films show increasing sheet resistance Rs, shift of the superconducting transition Tc to lower temperatures with the 3 nm MoN being the last superconducting film and thinner films already insulating. Fermionic scenario of SIT is evidenced by applicability of the Finkelsteins model, by the fact that Tc and the superconducting gap are coupled with a constant ratio, and by the spatial homogeneity of the superconducting and electronic characteristics. The logarithmic anomaly found in the tunneling spectra of the non-superconducting films is further enhanced in increased magnetic field due to the Zeeman spin effects driving the system deeper into the insulating state and pointing also to fermionic SIT.Comment: Manuscript (6 Figures) including Supplemental Materials (7 Figures

Suppressed superconductivity in ultrathin Mo2N films due to pair-breaking at the interface

A strong disorder characterized by a small product of the Fermi vector kF and the electron mean free l drives superconductors towards insulating state. Such disorder can be introduced by making the films very thin. Here, we present 3-nm Mo2N film with k_F*l ~ 2 with a resistive superconducting transition temperature Tc = 2 K heavily suppressed in comparison with the bulk Tc. Superconducting density of states (DOS) with smeared gap-like peaks and in-gap states, so called Dynes DOS, is observed by the low temperature tunneling spectroscopy despite a sharp resistive transition. By scanning tunneling microscope the spectral maps are obtained and related to the surface topography. The maps show a spatial variation of the superconducting energy gap on the order of 20 % which is not accidental but well correlates with the surface corrugation: protrusions reveal larger gap, smaller spectral smearing and smaller in-gap states. In agreement with our previous measurements on ultrathin MoC films we suggest that the film-substrate interface introducing the local pair-breaking is responsible for the observed effects and generally for the suppression of the superconductivity in these ultrathin films.Comment: Manuscript with 3 Figure

Magnetic pair-breaking in superconducting (Ba,K)BiO_3 investigated by magnetotunneling

The de Gennes and Maki theory of gapless superconductivity for dirty superconductors is used to interpret the tunneling measurements on the strongly type-II high-Tc oxide-superconductor Ba1-xKxBiO3 in high magnetic fields up to 30 Tesla. We show that this theory is applicable at all temperatures and in a wide range of magnetic fields starting from 50 percent of the upper critical field Bc2. In this magnetic field range the measured superconducting density of states (DOS) has the simple energy dependence as predicted by de Gennes from which the temperature dependence of the pair-breaking parameter alpha(T), or Bc2(T), has been obtained. The deduced temperature dependence of Bc2(T) follows the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg prediction for classical type-II superconductors in agreement with our previous direct determination. The amplitudes of the deviations in the DOS depend on the magnetic field via the spatially averaged superconducting order parameter which has a square-root dependence on the magnetic field. Finally, the second Ginzburg-Landau parameter kappa2(T) has been determined from the experimental data.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Anomalous magnetic field dependence of the thermodynamic transition line in the isotropic superconductor (K,Ba)Bi03

Thermodynamic (specific heat, reversible magnetization, tunneling spectroscopy) and transport measurements have been performed on high quality (K,Ba)BiO$_3$ single crystals. The temperature dependence of the magnetic field $H_{Cp}$ corresponding to the onset of the specific heat anomaly presents a clear positive curvature. $H_{Cp}$ is significantly smaller than the field $H_\Delta$ for which the superconducting gap vanishes but is closely related to the irreversibility line deduced from transport data. Moreover, the temperature dependence of the reversible magnetization present a strong deviation from the Ginzburg--Landau theory emphasazing the peculiar nature of the superconducting transition in this material.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 28 reference

Evidence for Nodal superconductivity in Sr2_{2}ScFePO3_{3}

Point contact Andreev reflection spectra have been taken as a function of temperature and magnetic field on the polycrystalline form of the newly discovered iron-based superconductor Sr2ScFePO3. A zero bias conductance peak which disappears at the superconducting transition temperature, dominates all of the spectra. Data taken in high magnetic fields show that this feature survives until 7T at 2K and a flattening of the feature is observed in some contacts. Here we inspect whether these observations can be interpreted within a d-wave, or nodal order parameter framework which would be consistent with the recent theoretical model where the height of the P in the Fe-P-Fe plane is key to the symmetry of the superconductivity. However, in polycrystalline samples care must be taken when examining Andreev spectra to eliminate or take into account artefacts associated with the possible effects of Josephson junctions and random alignment of grains.Comment: Published versio

Anisotropy of the Upper Critical Field and Critical Current in Single Crystal MgB2_2

We report on specific heat, high magnetic field transport and $ac-$susceptibility measurements on magnesium diboride single crystals. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ for magnetic fields perpendicular and parallel to the Mg and B planes is presented for the first time in the entire temperature range. A very different temperature dependence has been observed in the two directions which yields to a temperature dependent anisotropy with $\Gamma \sim$ 5 at low temperatures and about 2 near $T_c$. A peak effect is observed in susceptibility measurements for $H \sim$2 T parallel to the $c-$axis and the critical current density presnts a sharp maximum for $H$ parallel to the ab-plane.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

The optical response of Ba_{1-x}K_xBiO_3: Evidence for an unusual coupling mechanism of superconductivity?

We have analysed optical reflectivity data for Ba_{1-x}K_xBiO_3 in the far-infrared region using Migdal-Eliashberg theory and found it inconsistent with standard electron-phonon coupling: Whereas the superconducting state data could be explained using moderate coupling, \lambda=0.7, the normal state properties indicate \lambda \le 0.2. We have found that such behaviour could be understood using a simple model consisting of weak standard electron-phonon coupling plus weak coupling to an unspecified high energy excitation near 0.4 eV. This model is found to be in general agreement with the reflectivity data, except for the predicted superconducting gap size. The additional high energy excitation suggests that the dominant coupling mechanism in Ba_{1-x}K_xBiO_3 is not standard electron-phonon.Comment: 5 pages REVTex, 5 figures, 32 refs, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.