Aging- and annealing-induced variations in Nb / Al - AlO x / Nb tunnel junction properties

In this paper, we present studies of room temperature aging and annealing of Nb / Al - AlO x / Nb tunnel junctions with the size of 2 - 3   μ m 2 . We observed a noticeable drop of junction normal resistance R n unusually combined with increase in subgap resistance R j as a result of aging. Variatio...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Journal of applied physics 2011-01, Vol.109 (2), p.024502-024502-5
Hauptverfasser: Pavolotsky, Alexey B., Dochev, Dimitar, Belitsky, Victor
Format: Artikel
Sprache:
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:In this paper, we present studies of room temperature aging and annealing of Nb / Al - AlO x / Nb tunnel junctions with the size of 2 - 3   μ m 2 . We observed a noticeable drop of junction normal resistance R n unusually combined with increase in subgap resistance R j as a result of aging. Variation in both R n and R j are subject to the junction size effect. An effect of aging history on the junction degradation after consequent annealing was discovered. Discussion and interpretation of the observed phenomena are presented in terms of structural ordering and reconstruction in the AlO x layer, driven by diffusion flows enhanced due to stress relaxation processes in the Al layer interfacing the AlO x layer.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.3532040