Superconducting nanowires by electron-beam-induced deposition

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the fabrication of superconducting tungsten nanowires using electron-beam-induced deposition, offering a new method that avoids ion beam damage and enables nanoscale superconducting device development.

Contribution

It introduces a novel electron-beam-based fabrication process for superconducting nanowires, expanding the toolkit for nanoscale superconducting device creation.

Findings

Superconducting tungsten nanowires with Tc of 2.0 K and Hc of 3.7 T were successfully fabricated.

Electron-beam-induced deposition can produce superconducting nanowires comparable to ion-beam methods.

This method reduces physical damage and unintentional doping associated with ion beam fabrication.

Abstract

Superconducting nanowires can be fabricated by decomposition of an organometallic gas using a focused beam of Ga ions. However, physical damage and unintentional doping often results from the exposure to the ion beam, motivating the search for a means to achieve similar structures with a beam of electrons instead of ions. This has so far remained an experimental challenge. We report the fabrication of superconducting tungsten nanowires by electron-beam-induced-deposition, with critical temperature of 2.0 K and critical magnetic field of 3.7 T, and compare them with superconducting wires made with ions. This work opens up new possibilities for the realization of nanoscale superconducting devices, without the requirement of an ion beam column.