TY - JOUR
T1 - Hard superconducting gap in germanium
AU - Tosato, Alberto
AU - Levajac, Vukan
AU - Wang, Ji Yin
AU - Boor, Casper J.
AU - Borsoi, Francesco
AU - Botifoll, Marc
AU - Sammak, Amir
AU - Veldhorst, Menno
AU - Scappucci, Giordano
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The co-integration of spin, superconducting, and topological systems is emerging as an exciting pathway for scalable and high-fidelity quantum information technology. High-mobility planar germanium is a front-runner semiconductor for building quantum processors with spin-qubits, but progress with hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices is hindered by the difficulty in obtaining a superconducting hard gap, that is, a gap free of subgap states. Here, we address this challenge by developing a low-disorder, oxide-free interface between high-mobility planar germanium and a germanosilicide parent superconductor. This superconducting contact is formed by the thermally-activated solid phase reaction between a metal, platinum, and the Ge/SiGe semiconductor heterostructure. Electrical characterization reveals near-unity transparency in Josephson junctions and, importantly, a hard induced superconducting gap in quantum point contacts. Furthermore, we demonstrate phase control of a Josephson junction and study transport in a gated two-dimensional superconductor-semiconductor array towards scalable architectures. These results expand the quantum technology toolbox in germanium and provide new avenues for exploring monolithic superconductor-semiconductor quantum circuits towards scalable quantum information processing.
AB - The co-integration of spin, superconducting, and topological systems is emerging as an exciting pathway for scalable and high-fidelity quantum information technology. High-mobility planar germanium is a front-runner semiconductor for building quantum processors with spin-qubits, but progress with hybrid superconductor-semiconductor devices is hindered by the difficulty in obtaining a superconducting hard gap, that is, a gap free of subgap states. Here, we address this challenge by developing a low-disorder, oxide-free interface between high-mobility planar germanium and a germanosilicide parent superconductor. This superconducting contact is formed by the thermally-activated solid phase reaction between a metal, platinum, and the Ge/SiGe semiconductor heterostructure. Electrical characterization reveals near-unity transparency in Josephson junctions and, importantly, a hard induced superconducting gap in quantum point contacts. Furthermore, we demonstrate phase control of a Josephson junction and study transport in a gated two-dimensional superconductor-semiconductor array towards scalable architectures. These results expand the quantum technology toolbox in germanium and provide new avenues for exploring monolithic superconductor-semiconductor quantum circuits towards scalable quantum information processing.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85152631574&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s43246-023-00351-w
DO - 10.1038/s43246-023-00351-w
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85152631574
VL - 4
JO - Communications Materials
JF - Communications Materials
SN - 2662-4443
IS - 1
M1 - 23
ER -