# Ultralow 1/f Noise in a Heterostructure of Superconducting Epitaxial Cobalt-Disilicide Thin Film on Silicon

## TL;DR

This study demonstrates that epitaxial CoSi₂/Si heterostructures exhibit extremely low 1/f noise levels at cryogenic temperatures, promising for quantum computing applications due to their stability and low noise characteristics.

## Contribution

The paper reports the discovery of ultralow 1/f noise in epitaxial CoSi₂/Si heterostructures, significantly lower than conventional materials, supported by detailed microscopy and noise analysis.

## Key findings

- 1/f noise level is about 100 times lower than aluminum films.
- Low noise attributed to limited dangling bonds at the interface.
- Potential for use in quiet qubits and scalable quantum circuits.

## Abstract

High-precision resistance noise measurements indicate that the epitaxial CoSi$_2$/Si hetero-structures at 150 K and 2 K (slightly above its superconducting transition temperature $T_c$ of 1.54 K) exhibit an unusually low 1/f noise level in the frequency range of 0.008-0.2 Hz. This corresponds to an upper limit of Hooge constant $\gamma \leq 3 \times 10^{-6}$, about 100 times lower than that of single-crystalline aluminum films on SiO$_2$ capped Si substrates. Supported by high-resolution cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy studies, our analysis reveals that the 1/f noise is dominated by excess interfacial Si atoms and their dimer reconstruction induced fluctuators. Unbonded orbitals (i.e., dangling bonds) on excess Si atoms are intrinsically rare at the epitaxial CoSi$_2$/Si(100) interface, giving limited trapping-detrapping centers for localized charges. With its excellent normal-state properties, CoSi$_2$ has been used in silicon-based integrated circuits for decades. The intrinsically low noise properties discovered in this work could be utilized for developing quiet qubits and scalable superconducting circuits for future quantum computing.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1702.05566