Niobium-based superconducting nano-device fabrication using all-metal suspended masks

We report a novel method for the fabrication of superconducting nano-devices based on niobium. The well-known difficulties of lithographic patterning of high-quality niobium are overcome by replacing the usual organic resist mask by a metallic one. The quality of the fabrication procedure is demonstrated by the realization and characterization of long and narrow superconducting lines and niobium–gold–niobium proximity SQUIDs.

S Samaddar, D van Zanten, A Fay, B Sacépé, H Courtois and C B Winkelmann

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