Thin Film Superconducting Devices

Techniques have been developed with which it is possible to fabricate superconducting thin film structures (“bridges”) which show Josephson-like phenomena, with a wide variety of electrical and superconducting parameters. These bridges—based on the proximity effect—are made in layered thin film substrates which have been fabricated from many different, both hard and soft, superconducting materials. The fabrication techniques and the electrical and superconducting characteristics for these proximity effect bridges including a simple low frequency (≤10 GHz) equivalent circuit will be discussed. These bridges have been incorporated into simple thin film circuits for use as galvanometers, magnetometers, gradiometers, detector arrays, etc. Extension of these techniques to more complex superconducting thin film bridge circuits including resistors, capacitors, and inductors will be indicated

Microelectronic fabrication of superconducting devices and circuits

It is expected that thin-film superconductors can be used as detectors or sources of infrared and microwave radiation, as magnetometers, as voltage standards, and for voltage and current measurements, for electronic signal processing, and in digital circuitry

Microwave surface resistance of Nb films

The surface resistance, R_s, of niobium (Nb) films has been experimentally investigated as a function of thickness, preparation technique and substrate material at 8.86 GHz. Nb films were prepared by either sputtering or evaporation in the thickness range Between 0.1 μm and 3.0 μm on either copper (Cu) or sapphire substrate. R_s was determined using a cylindrical TE011mode resonant cavity with one removable end-plate which was utilized as the test substrate. The low field R_s at 4.2 K is lower than that of bulk Nb and shows good agreement with BCS calculation which takes into account the effects of mean free path. The temperature dependence of R_s indicates a normalized film gap parameter, Δ(0)/KTc, nearly equivalent to the bulk value for most of the films. At low temperatures, Rsis dominated by residual resistance (R0) which approaches 1 μΩ. The overall characteristics of Nb on Cu (Nb/Cu) indicate that this composite material is potentially useful in applications requiring high rf field as well as high thermal stability

Performance of a superconducting cavity stabilized ruby maser oscillator

We first described an all-cryogenic oscillator system at the 1982 Applied Superconductivity Conference in Knoxville. This oscillator consists of a ruby cavity maser stabilized by a high-Q superconductor-on-sapphire resonator. The maser provides gain with very low noise and small power dissipation, while the sapphire substrate's thermal coefficient of expansion is 100 times smaller than that of superconducting metals. Having tested the major components and proved them satisfactory to the design, we have now assembled the first such oscillator and tested its performance in several preliminary configurations. The results of stability tests in a more advanced configuration will be reported. We shall describe this oscillator and shall report on its performance as a high-stability frequency source

Magneto-chemical studies with a new ultrasensitive superconducting quantum magnetometer

A magnetometer utilizing quantum superconductivity as the basis for the flux sensor element has been designed and used for biochemical susceptibility measurements in the temperature range from 1.5°K to 300°K. The sensitivity and reproducibility of this instrument have been tested by measurements on small amounts of material of well-known susceptibilities. Using this instrument the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibilities of oxy- and metaquohemerythrin have been measured and for the first time their anti-ferromagnetic components have been unambigiously resolved. From this data the exchange coupling constants between the two high-spin iron (III) atoms in each subunit have been determined to be -77 and -134 cm^(-1) respectively

Physical conditions for ferromagnetic resonance

All but one of the multiple ferromagnetic resonances observed by White and Solt in a sphere are shown to correspond to modes in which the oscillating part of the magnetization is independent of r (the only case ordinarily considered) or varies linearly with r in the sample

Trapped Flux and Critical Currents in Superconducting Thin-Film Rings

Critical persistent currents have been measured in thin-film tin rings by a mechanical method which utilizes the magnetic moment due to trapped flux in such rings. In addition, this technique yields a measurement of the penetration depth for critical persistent currents in thin films. Currents slightly less than critical have been shown to be truly persistent for periods of more than 10 hours in films whose thickness is less than 5% of the penetration depth. It is found that for tin films less than 700 Å thick, current densities greater than 10^6 amp/cm^2 can be readily achieved within a degree of the transition temperature

Status of the Stony Brook Superconducting Heavy-Ion Linac

We describe the present status of the State University of New York at Stony Brook Superconducting Heavy-Ion LINAC (SUNYLAC). The LINAC will extend at very modest cost the capabilities of the existing FN tandem Van de Graaff into the energy range 5-10 MeV/A for light heavy-ions from oxygen to bromine. The active elements are 43 lead-plated copper superconducting resonators of the split-loop type optimized for either velocity ß=v/c=0.055 or ß=0.10. Phase and amplitude of each resonator is independently set through RF-feedback controllers interfaced to an overall computer control system. Full scale construction work began in July, 1979 following the in-beam demonstration of a prototype LINAC module containing 4 low-ß resonators, and the majority of the installation work on the beam transport and refrigeration systems was completed in the summer of 1980. The project is now well into its final assembly and testing phase, with the completion of assembly scheduled in early 1982. We describe details of the design of key elements of the LINAC and the initial operating experience with the injection beam path, helium refrigerator and first production accelerator module. The progress of a continuing program aimed at optimizing crucial aspects of the LINAC is also reviewed