Wang Xuejing, Thomas Sean M, Baldwin J Kevin, Addamane Sadhvikas, Sheehan Chris, Yoo Jinkyoung
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States of America.
MPA-Q, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, United States of America.
Nanotechnology. 2023 Feb 3;34(15). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/acb49e.
Novel heterostructures created by coupling one-dimensional semiconductor nanowires with a superconducting thin film show great potential toward next-generation quantum computing. Here, by growing high-crystalline SiGe nanowires on a NbTiN thin film, the resulting heterostructure exhibits Ohmic characteristics as well as a shift of the superconducting transition temperature (). The structure was characterized at atomic resolution showing a sharp SiGe/NbTiN interface without atomic interdiffusion. Lattice spacing, as calculated from large-area x-ray diffraction experiments, suggests a potential preferred-spacing matching between (200) NbTiN and (110) SiGe grains. The observed out-of-plane compressive strain within the NbTiN films coupled with SiGe nanowires explains the downward shift of the superconductivity behavior. The presented results post scientific insights toward functional heterostructures by coupling multi-dimensional materials, which could enable tunable superconductivity that benefits the quantum science applications.
