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Ultra-thin TaN Films for Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

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Abstract

Ultra-thin films of superconducting tantalum nitride are deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering on heated sapphire substrates. The critical temperature T C=10.25 K is reached for films thicker than 10 nm. A superconducting nanowire single-photon detector in the form of a meander line with a width of 110 nm was made from 5 nm thick TaN film. The detector had a transition temperature of 8.3 K and a critical current density of 4 MA/cm2 at 4.2 K. A photon detection efficiency of 20% has been obtained for the detector with a filling factor of 0.55 at wavelengths up to 700 nm.

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Notes

  1. The ζ and τ values are assumed to be similar to that one in NbN (Ref. [2]).

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Acknowledgements

The work is supported in part by DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures under sub-project A4.3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Mikro- und Nanoelektronische Systeme, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, 76187, Karlsruhe, Deutschland

    K. Il’in, M. Hofherr, D. Rall & M. Siegel

  2. DLR Institute for Planetary Research, 12489, Berlin, Deutschland

    A. Semenov

  3. Physik-Institut der Universität Zürich, 8057, Zürich, Schweiz

    A. Engel, K. Inderbitzin, A. Aeschbacher & A. Schilling

Authors
  1. K. Il’in
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  2. M. Hofherr
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  3. D. Rall
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  4. M. Siegel
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  5. A. Semenov
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  6. A. Engel
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  7. K. Inderbitzin
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  8. A. Aeschbacher
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  9. A. Schilling
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Correspondence to K. Il’in.

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Il’in, K., Hofherr, M., Rall, D. et al. Ultra-thin TaN Films for Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors. J Low Temp Phys 167, 809–814 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-011-0424-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-011-0424-3

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