No Arabic abstract
The loss of amorphous hydrogenated silicon nitride (a-SiN$_{x}$:H) is measured at 30 mK and 5 GHz using a superconducting LC resonator down to energies where a single-photon is stored, and analyzed with an independent two-level system (TLS) defect model. Each a-SiN$_{x}$:H film was deposited with different concentrations of hydrogen impurities. We find that quantum-regime dielectric loss tangent $tandelta_{0}$ in a-SiN$_{x}$:H is strongly correlated with N-H impurities, including NH$_{2}$. By slightly reducing $x$ we are able to reduce $tandelta_0$ by approximately a factor of 50, where the best films show $tandelta_0$ $simeq$ 3 $times$ 10$^{-5}$.
Dielectrics with low loss at microwave frequencies are imperative for high-coherence solid-state quantum computing platforms. We study the dielectric loss of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) thin films in the microwave regime by measuring the quality factor of parallel-plate capacitors (PPCs) made of NbSe2-hBN-NbSe2 heterostructures integrated into superconducting circuits. The extracted microwave loss tangent of hBN is bounded to be at most in the mid-10-6 range in the low temperature, single-photon regime. We integrate hBN PPCs with aluminum Josephson junctions to realize transmon qubits with coherence times reaching 25 $mu$s, consistent with the hBN loss tangent inferred from resonator measurements. The hBN PPC reduces the qubit feature size by approximately two-orders of magnitude compared to conventional all-aluminum coplanar transmons. Our results establish hBN as a promising dielectric for building high-coherence quantum circuits with substantially reduced footprint and, with a high energy participation that helps to reduce unwanted qubit cross-talk.
Thin films of TiN were sputter-deposited onto Si and sapphire wafers with and without SiN buffer layers. The films were fabricated into RF coplanar waveguide resonators, and internal quality factor measurements were taken at millikelvin temperatures in both the many photon and single photon limits, i.e. high and low power regimes, respectively. At high power, internal quality factors ($Q_i$s) higher than $10^7$ were measured for TiN with predominantly a (200)-TiN orientation. Films that showed significant (111)-TiN texture invariably had much lower $Q_i$s, on the order of $10^5$. Our studies show that the (200)-TiN is favored for growth at high temperature on either bare Si or SiN buffer layers. However, growth on bare sapphire or Si(100) at low temperature resulted in primarily a (111)-TiN orientation. Ellipsometry and Auger measurements indicate that the (200)-TiN growth on the bare Si substrates is correlated with the formation of a thin, $approx 2$ nm, layer of SiN during the pre-deposition procedure. In the single photon regime, $Q_i$ of these films exceeded $8times10^5$, while thicker SiN buffer layers led to reduced $Q_i$s at low power.
We present microwave-frequency NbTiN resonators on silicon, systematically achieving internal quality factors above 1 M in the quantum regime. We use two techniques to reduce losses associated with two-level systems: an additional substrate surface treatment prior to NbTiN deposition to optimize the metal-substrate interface, and deep reactive-ion etching of the substrate to displace the substrate-vacuum interfaces away from high electric fields. The temperature and power dependence of resonator behavior indicate that two-level systems still contribute significantly to energy dissipation, suggesting that more interface optimization could further improve performance.
A new operating regime of the Superconducting Quantum Interference Filter (SQIF) is investigated. The voltage to magnetic field response function, V(H), is determined by a Fraunhofer dependence of the critical current and magnetic flux focusing effect in Josephson junctions (F-mode). For SQIF-arrays made of high-Tc superconducting bicrystal Josephson junctions the F-mode plays a predominant role in the voltage-field response V(H). The relatively large superconducting loops of the SQIF are used for inductive coupling to the external input circuit. It is shown that the output noise of a SQIF-array measured with a cooled amplifier in the 1-2 GHz range is determined by the slope of the V(H) characteristic. Power gain and saturation power were evaluated using low frequency SQIF parameters. Finally, we consider the influence of the spread in the parameters of Josephson junctions in the SQIF-array on the V(H) characteristic of the whole structure.
We describe a microfabrication process for superconducting through-silicon vias appropriate for use in superconducting qubit quantum processors. With a sloped-wall via geometry, we can use non-conformal metal deposition methods such as electron-beam evaporation and sputtering, which reliably deposit high quality superconducting films. Via superconductivity is validated by demonstrating zero via-to-via resistance below the critical temperature of aluminum.