Article abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 1, 208 - 213 (2006)
Published online: 5 December 2006 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2006.140
Subject Category: Electronic properties and devices
Ge/Si nanowire mesoscopic Josephson junctions
Jie Xiang1, A. Vidan2,4, M. Tinkham2,3, R. M. Westervelt2,3 & Charles M. Lieber1,2
Abstract
The controlled growth of nanowires (NWs) with dimensions comparable to the Fermi wavelengths of the charge carriers allows fundamental investigations of quantum confinement phenomena. Here, we present studies of proximity-induced superconductivity in undoped Ge/Si core/shell NW heterostructures contacted by superconducting leads. By using a top gate electrode to modulate the carrier density in the NW, the critical supercurrent can be tuned from zero to greater than 100 nA. Furthermore, discrete sub-bands form in the NW due to confinement in the radial direction, which results in stepwise increases in the critical current as a function of gate voltage. Transport measurements on these superconductor–NW–superconductor devices reveal high-order (n = 25) resonant multiple Andreev reflections, indicating that the NW channel is smooth and the charge transport is highly coherent. The ability to create and control coherent superconducting ordered states in semiconductor–superconductor hybrid nanostructures allows for new opportunities in the study of fundamental low-dimensional superconductivity.
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
- Present address: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Massachusetts 02420, USA
Correspondence to: R. M. Westervelt2,3 e-mail: westervelt@deas.harvard.edu
Correspondence to: Charles M. Lieber1,2 e-mail: cml@cmliris.harvard.edu
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