Abstract
Recent advances in focused ion beam (FIB) technology exploit accelerated helium or neon ions, rather than gallium, for maskless fabrication of superconducting nanocomponents. We present a study of the effect of the damage induced by the accelerated ions on the superconducting transition temperature, Tc, of a patterned ~ 85-nm-wide Nb wire, demonstrating a decrease of Tc from ~ 5.5 K in the wire patterned by He ions to ~ 2.8 and 2.3 K exploiting Ne and Ga ions, respectively. In an effort to gain insight into the origin of these changes in Tc, we performed Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) simulations to estimate the damage induced by each type of ion. The simulations show that the lateral distribution of the ion beam and the sputtering rate in using Ne or Ga are significantly larger than those caused by He, consistent with the changes in the measured electrical properties of the nanowire.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 657-661 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2022 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Keywords
- Focused Ion Beam (FIB)
- Nanowires
- Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter (SRIM) simulations
- Superconductors