ACS Nano
ACS Nano
5 years ago

Cryogenic Fab-on-a-Chip Sticks the Landing

Cryogenic Fab-on-a-Chip Sticks the Landing
Han Han, David Bishop, Thomas Stark, Matthias Imboden
Using a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based Fab-on-a-Chip, we quench-condense lead thin-films. Suppressing the formation of lead islands makes it possible to grow a homogeneous and continuous film as thin as 2 nm, without the use of an adhesion layer. Thermal cycling from 3 K to as low as 10 K reveals irreversible annealing of the thin-film characteristic of a metastable state. The transition to the stable state is smooth and is completed by cycling the temperature above ∼42 K, where a distinctive resistance minimum is observed. This resistive minimum is accompanied by an unexpected peak in the superconducting transition temperature. After further thermal cycling, the standard metallic/superconductive behavior is established. The MEMS-based approach yields a platform for systematic studies of quench-condensed thin-film materials, making an intriguing parameter space of mesoscopic physics experimentally accessible.

Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.7b01808

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b01808

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