Fabrication and characterizarion of superconductor YBCO Josephson junctions

Abstract

A well-controlled, high-yield Josephson junction production process forms the basis of superconducting electronic device and circuit technology. In order to use the Josephson junctions effectively and fabricate them reproducibly, their structural and electrical characterization should be performed.This study concentrates on the fabrication and characterization of high temperature bicrystal grain boundary Josephson junctions fabricated onto 24-dand 30-degree SrTiO3 bicrystal substrates using high quality YBa2Cu3O7-. (YBCO) thin-films.200 nm thick YBCO thin films were deposited using a dc Inverted Cylindrical Magnetron Sputtering technique by investigating the thin film deposition conditions in order to obtain device quality films. The superconducting properties of the thin films were determined by electrical characterizations, consisting of resistance versus temperature and magnetic susceptibility versus temperature measurements. Structural properties were analyzed by Atomic Force Microscope, Scanning Electron Microscope and X-Ray Diffraction.Prepared thin film samples were patterned as bicrystal grain boundary Josephson junctions by standard photolithography and chemical etching processes. The current-voltage characteristics of the Josephson junctions were performed at 77 K under zero and non-zero applied field in magnetically shielded environment. The critical current values (Ic), normal resistance (Rn) and IcRn product of the output signals were determined, and the values were discussed as function of the film growth conditions. The optimization of the Josephson junctions was performed in order to improve both the signal performance and the stability of our devices against thermal cycling.