Engineering Epitaxial Interfaces for Topological Insulator — Superconductor Hybrid Devices with Al Electrodes
Advanced Quantum Technologies, vol. 8
Abstract
Abstract Proximity‐induced superconductivity in hybrid devices of topological insulators and superconductors offers a promising platform for the pursuit of elusive topological superconductivity and its anticipated applications, such as fault‐tolerant quantum computing. To study and harness such hybrid devices, a key challenge is the realization of highly functional material interfaces with a suitable superconductor featuring 2‐periodic parity‐conserving transport to ensure a superconducting hard‐gap free of unpaired electrons, which is important for Majorana physics. A superconductor well‐known for this characteristic is Al, however, its direct integration into devices based on tetradymite topological insulators has so far been found to yield non‐transparent interfaces. By focusing on Bi 2 Te 3 ‐Al heterostructures, this study identifies detrimental interdiffusion processes at the interface through atomically resolved structural and chemical analysis, and showcases their mitigation by leveraging different interlayers – namely Nb, Ti, Pd, and Pt – between Bi 2 Te 3 and Al. Through structural transformation of the interlayer materials (X) into their respective tellurides (XTe 2 ) atomically‐sharp epitaxial interfaces are engineered and further characterized in low‐temperature transport experiments on Al‐X‐Bi 2 Te 3 ‐X‐Al Josephson junctions and in complementary density functional theory calculations. By demonstrating functional interfaces between Bi 2 Te 3 and Al, this work provides key insights and paves the way for the next generation of sophisticated topological devices.
Authors 16
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Tobias Schmitt Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · University of Würzburg
Affiliation as printed
Institute for Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics University of Würzburg 97074 Würzburg Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐1 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre
Affiliation as printed
Ernst Ruska‐Centre (ER‐C) for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Benedikt Frohn Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Michael Schleenvoigt Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Xiao Hou Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
Ernst Ruska‐Centre (ER‐C) for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
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Anne Schmidt Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐1 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre
Affiliation as printed
Ernst Ruska‐Centre (ER‐C) for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · Ernst Ruska Centre · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
Central Facility for Electron Microscopy (GFE) RWTH Aachen University 52074 Aachen Germany
Ernst Ruska‐Centre (ER‐C) for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
Ernst Ruska‐Centre (ER‐C) for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Stefan Blügel Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐1 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Detlev Grützmacher Aachen
Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · RWTH Aachen University
Affiliation as printed
JARA‐FIT (Fundamentals of Future Information Technology) Jülich‐Aachen Research Alliance Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University 52425 Jülich Germany
Peter Grünberg Institute PGI‐9 Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH 52425 Jülich Germany
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