Abstract
Recent measurements of micron-sized Mo/Au bilayer TESs have demonstrated that the TES can behave like an S-S′-S weak link due to the lateral proximity effect from superconducting leads. In this regime the T c is a function of bias current, and the effective T c shifts from the bilayer T c towards the lead T c . We explore the idea that a micron-sized S-N-S weak link could provide a new method to engineer the TES T c . This method would be particularly useful when small size requirements for a bilayer TES (such as for a hot-electron microbolometer) lead to undesirable shifts in the bilayer T c . We present measurements of a variety of micron-sized normal Au ‘TES’ devices with Nb leads. We find no evidence of a superconducting transition in the Au film of these devices, in dramatic contrast to the strong lateral proximity effect seen in micron-sized Mo/Au bilayer devices. The absence of a transition in these devices is also in disagreement with theoretical predictions for S-N-S weak links. We hypothesize that a finite contact resistance between the Nb and Au may be weakening the effect. We conclude that the use of the lateral proximity effect to create a superconducting transition will be difficult given current fabrication procedures.
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Barrentine, E.M., Brandl, D.E., Brown, A.D. et al. Can the Lateral Proximity Effect Be Used to Create the Superconducting Transition of a Micron-Sized TES?. J Low Temp Phys 167, 195–201 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0578-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0578-7