To improve the energy resolution（？E） of Nb/Al superconducting tunnel junctions（STJs）, an ozone（O3） oxidation process has been developed to fabricate a thin defect-free tunnel barrier that simultaneously shows h...To improve the energy resolution（？E） of Nb/Al superconducting tunnel junctions（STJs）, an ozone（O3） oxidation process has been developed to fabricate a thin defect-free tunnel barrier that simultaneously shows high critical current JC〉 1000 A/cm^2 and high normalized dynamic resistance RDA 〉 100 MΩ·μm^2, where A is the size of the STJ. The 50-μm^2 STJs produced by O3 exposure of 0.26 Pa·min with an indirect spray of O3 gas, which is a much lower level of exposure than the O2 exposure used in a conventional O2 oxidation process, exhibit a maximum JC= 800 A/cm^2 and a high RDA = 372 MΩ ·μm^2. The 100-pixel array of the 100-μm^2STJs produced using the same O3 oxidation conditions exhibits a constant leak current I leak= 14.9 ± 3.2 n A at a bias point around △ /e（where e is half the energy gap of an STJ）,and a high fabrication yield of 87%. Although the I leak values are slightly larger than those of STJs produced using the conventional O2 oxidation process, the STJ produced using O3 oxidation shows a ？E = 10 eV for the C-Kα line, which is the best value of our Nb/Al STJ x-ray detectors.展开更多
In time-of-flight mass spectrometry（TOF MS）, superconducting strip ion detectors（SSIDs） in the parallel configuration are promising for ideal ion detection with a nanosecond-scale time response and a practical lar...In time-of-flight mass spectrometry（TOF MS）, superconducting strip ion detectors（SSIDs） in the parallel configuration are promising for ideal ion detection with a nanosecond-scale time response and a practical large sensitive area. In the parallel configuration, the bias current in one strip is diverted into other parallel strips after each detection event. Under high bias current conditions, the diverted bias current induces cascade switching of all parallel strips. Studies show that cascade switching degrades the ion count rate of SSIDs made from niobium and hence is disliked in TOF MS applications. To suppress the bias current redistribution, we connected resistors in a series with the individual parallel strips using aluminum-bonding wires. Their effect was studied by measuring the pulse height distributions.展开更多
文摘To improve the energy resolution（？E） of Nb/Al superconducting tunnel junctions（STJs）, an ozone（O3） oxidation process has been developed to fabricate a thin defect-free tunnel barrier that simultaneously shows high critical current JC〉 1000 A/cm^2 and high normalized dynamic resistance RDA 〉 100 MΩ·μm^2, where A is the size of the STJ. The 50-μm^2 STJs produced by O3 exposure of 0.26 Pa·min with an indirect spray of O3 gas, which is a much lower level of exposure than the O2 exposure used in a conventional O2 oxidation process, exhibit a maximum JC= 800 A/cm^2 and a high RDA = 372 MΩ ·μm^2. The 100-pixel array of the 100-μm^2STJs produced using the same O3 oxidation conditions exhibits a constant leak current I leak= 14.9 ± 3.2 n A at a bias point around △ /e（where e is half the energy gap of an STJ）,and a high fabrication yield of 87%. Although the I leak values are slightly larger than those of STJs produced using the conventional O2 oxidation process, the STJ produced using O3 oxidation shows a ？E = 10 eV for the C-Kα line, which is the best value of our Nb/Al STJ x-ray detectors.
基金Project supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A) and (C) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science(Grant Nos.22246056 and 24619013)
文摘In time-of-flight mass spectrometry（TOF MS）, superconducting strip ion detectors（SSIDs） in the parallel configuration are promising for ideal ion detection with a nanosecond-scale time response and a practical large sensitive area. In the parallel configuration, the bias current in one strip is diverted into other parallel strips after each detection event. Under high bias current conditions, the diverted bias current induces cascade switching of all parallel strips. Studies show that cascade switching degrades the ion count rate of SSIDs made from niobium and hence is disliked in TOF MS applications. To suppress the bias current redistribution, we connected resistors in a series with the individual parallel strips using aluminum-bonding wires. Their effect was studied by measuring the pulse height distributions.
