Substrate induced proximity effect in superconducting niobium nanofilms

S. J. Rezvani; A. Perali; M. Fretto; N. De Leo; L. Flammia; M. Milosevic; S. Nannarone; N. Pinto

Substrate induced proximity effect in superconducting niobium nanofilms

Applied Physics 2018-10-31 v1 Superconductivity

Authors: S. J. Rezvani , A. Perali , M. Fretto , N. De Leo , L. Flammia , M. Milosevic , S. Nannarone , N. Pinto

Abstract

Structural and superconducting properties of high quality Niobium nanofilms with different thicknesses are investigated on silicon oxide and sapphire substrates. The role played by the different substrates and the superconducting properties of the Nb films are discussed based on the defectivity of the films and on the presence of an interfacial oxide layer between the Nb film and the substrate. The X-ray absorption spectroscopy is employed to uncover the structure of the interfacial layer. We show that this interfacial layer leads to a strong proximity effect, specially in films deposited on a SiO $_2$ substrate, altering the superconducting properties of the Nb films. Our results establish that the critical temperature is determined by an interplay between quantum-size effects, due to the reduction of the Nb film thicknesses, and proximity effects.

Keywords

superconducting radio frequency cavities thin films thin film physics

Cite

@article{arxiv.1810.12643,
  title  = {Substrate induced proximity effect in superconducting niobium nanofilms},
  author = {S. J. Rezvani and A. Perali and M. Fretto and N. De Leo and L. Flammia and M. Milosevic and S. Nannarone and N. Pinto},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.12643},
  year   = {2018}
}

Substrate induced proximity effect in superconducting niobium nanofilms

Abstract

Keywords

Cite

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