Thin-film microsusceptometer with integrated nanoloop

We report the design and performance of thin-film microsusceptometers intended for magnetic measurements on samples at variable temperature down to the low mK range and excitation frequencies of up to about 1 MHz. The devices are realized as first-order gradiometers with two circular loops of 60 μm or 30 μm average diameter resulting in a total inductance of 360 pH or 250 pH, respectively. An integrated excitation coil generates a magnetic field with a sensitivity of 0.1 T/A at the sample position, whereas the Josephson junctions are located in a field-reduced area. The susceptometers are fabricated by a conventional Nb/AlOx/Nb trilayer process. In order to enhance the sensitivity to the level required for the measurement of sub-μm samples, an extra detection loop of about 450 nm inner diameter was integrated into one of the pickup loops by using a focused ion beam (FIB). We show that this device is able of detecting signals from very small permalloy samples. An improved susceptometer design for equipment with integrated nanoloops is also presented, for which a total inductance of 50 pH is predicted.