Fabrication of SIS junctions for space borne submillimeter wave mixers using negative resist e-beam lithography

Author

Péron, Isabelle ; Pasturel, Patrice ; Schuster, Karl-Friedrich

Author_Institution

DEMIRM, Obs. de Paris, Meudon, France

Volume

11

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

3/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

377

Lastpage

380

Abstract

We report on the development of a new process for the fabrication of Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb tunnel junctions for channel 1 (480-640 GHz) Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixers of HIFI, the Heterodyne Instrument for FIRST (Far InfraRed & Submillimeter Telescope). The process is derived from a standard self-aligned lift-off process but uses negative resist electron beam lithography (EBL) for junction definition. The junction area is tightly controlled down to below 1 μm² without the complexity of processes using positive electron beam resists. We describe process parameters and experimental results: DC-tests and Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) measurements

Keywords

aerospace instrumentation; aluminium; aluminium compounds; electron beam lithography; electron resists; niobium; submillimetre astronomy; submillimetre wave mixers; superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixers; 480 to 640 GHz; DC testing; FIRST; Fourier transform spectrometry; HIFI; Nb-Al-AlO-Nb; Nb/Al-AlO_x/Nb SIS tunnel junction; heterodyne instrument; negative resist electron beam lithography; self-aligned lift-off process; space borne submillimeter wave mixer; submillimeter telescope; Electron beams; Fabrication; Instruments; Josephson junctions; Niobium; Resists; Submillimeter wave devices; Superconducting devices; Superconducting photodetectors; Telescopes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/77.919361

Filename

919361