Masahiro Aoyagi

Specific capacitance of Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson junctions with critical current densities in the range of 0.1–18 kA/cm2

The specific capacitance Cs of Nb/AlOx/Nb Josephson tunnel junction has been measured by means of the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) resonance technique. We have investigated the junctions with critical current densities Jc in the range of 0.1–18 kA/cm2 and found that 1/Cs linearly depends on a logarithm of Jc. This suggests that the barrier thickness is moderately uniform in the junction area and increases continuously during growth. The results also show that increasing Jc reduces time constants of the junction.

Rapid single-flux-quantum dual-rail logic for asynchronous circuits

Dual-rail logic circuit elements based on rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) technology have been designed and simulated. The proposed circuits can operate asynchronously, since dual-rail data include timing information in themselves. Therefore dual-rail logic scheme has a possibility of solving some problems of RSFQ circuits with flow clocking, which would become more serious as operating speed and complexity of the circuit increase. Implementation of RSFQ dual-rail AND and XOR cells is described. A scheme of transfer-ring data from a flow-clocked circuit to a parallel dual-rail circuit is also proposed, which a fully asynchronous dual-rail demultiplexer.

Development of superconducting tunnel junctions with an aluminum-oxide insulation layer for X-ray detection

Superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ), with a buffer layer between the silicon substrate and junction, are being developed for use as high-resolution X-ray detectors. Aluminum-oxide (Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) is employed as the buffer layer in order to suppress the phonon mediated background from the Si substrate. The extent of phonon insulation was studied by measuring the X-ray spectra of STJs as a function of buffer layer thickness. The phonon insulation ability of Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ was compared to that of magnesium-oxide. The Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ layer should be a good phonon insulator, with the ability to suppress phonons with a single buffer layer.

Development of X-ray detectors based on Nb/Al/AlOx/Al/Nb superconducting tunnel junctions

Abstract X-ray detectors based on Nb/Al/AlO x /Al/Nb superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ) have been fabricated. X-ray responses of the fabricated STJs were measured by illumination with X-rays from a 55 Fe electron capture source. The energy resolution of 41, 58 and 65xa0eV (FWHM) at 5.9xa0keV were obtained for 20×20, 100×100, 200×200xa0μm 2 , square-shaped devices, respectively. The X-ray measurements were performed at 0.35xa0K using a charge-sensitive preamplifier at room temperature. We also discussed the capability to suppress the substrate phonon events using Al 2 O 3 insulation layer. An advantage for the combined use of the Al 2 O 3 insulation layer and the sapphire substrate was demonstrated.

Submicron NbN/MgO/NbN Josephson tunnel junctions and their application to the logic circuit

An improved fabrication process for submicron NbN/MgO/NbN Josephson tunnel junctions has been developed. By introducing a contact layer between the junction and the wiring layer, the critical current of the wiring above the junction was considerably enhanced. A logic circuit composed of four-junction logic gates was fabricated using 0.9- mu m-square junctions. Logic delay measurement was successfully achieved with a minimum logic delay of 3.6 ps/gate and a wide operating margin of +or-17% within 50 gates.<<ETX>>

Development of superconducting tunnel junctions for ultra soft X-ray detectors

Nb-based superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) with Al trapping layers have been developed for X-ray detectors. One applications for STJs is a low energy radiation detector having energy resolution and a high photon counting rate. STJs have good potential in the band of energies from 40 eV up to 1 keV, because STJs materials have good absorbing properties in this region. The energy resolution was measured by using the Photon Factory beamline BL-12A of High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan, and for 200 eV photon, 11 eV Full Width Half at Half Maximum (FWHM) with a 20/spl times/20 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ junction were achieved. In this article, the fabrication technique and preliminary results of measuring the response for this band of energies are reported.

Subgap characteristics of Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions with high critical current density

We have investigated subgap characteristics of Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions with high critical current density (high-J/sub c/). A good agreement of the experimental data with the solution of Werthamers equation clearly shows that steep current steps observed at odd submultiples of the gap voltage, which cannot be explained by multiparticle tunneling and/or multiple Andreev reflection, are mainly caused by Josephson self-coupling. Our experimental results suggest that Josephson self-coupling is important to high-J/sub c/ tunnel junctions.<<ETX>>

Influence of a NbN overlayer on Nb/Al–AlOx/Nb high quality Josephson tunnel junctions for x‐ray detection

Nb/Al–AlOx/Nb–NbN Josephson junctions for use as x‐ray detectors have been fabricated. The NbN overlayer has been used to realize the trapping of quasiparticles in the Nb top layer with an increase of the charge collection efficiency. The temperature dependence of quasiparticle and Josephson critical current have been investigated and compared with that without a NbN overlayer, showing low leakage currents, about 200 pA (V=0.5 mV, T=0.67 K, A=20×20 μm2), and high dynamical resistances in the subgap region. Preliminary measurements under 6 keV x‐ray irradiation have shown an increased value of the maximum collected charge.

A speedup method of a high-speed direct-coupled Josephson logic gate

The switching mechanism of a direct-coupled Josephson logic gate, a four-junction logic gate, has been investigated. It was found that a high-speed input signal current is wasted in an input-output separation resistance (R/sub i/). A speedup method has been developed in which an inductance is connected to (R/sub i/) in series. The value of the inductance was found to be five times larger than the effective inductance of the input junction. A speedup of 40% in the gate switching was demonstrated by a logic delay experiment using submicron NbN-MgO-NbN junction technology. The minimum logic delay of 3.0 ps/gate was obtained with fan-out 1.<<ETX>>

A high-resolution X-ray detection system using STJ and SQUID amplifier

We succeeded in separating the STJ upper electrode events from other electrode events. This study is for X-ray spectroscopy of slow ions. With a SQUID amplifier, it is clearly seen that the upper electrode signal has a sharp peak with a narrow base, while the other has a relatively gentle peak with a wide base. The difference in signal width was used to separate the upper electrode events from other electrode events. Then the X-ray spectroscopy of slow highly charged ions was carried out at RIKEN. The results are shown here.