A superconducting device includes a substrate, a metal oxide or metal oxynitride seed layer on the substrate, and a metal nitride superconductive layer disposed directly on the seed layer. The seed layer is an oxide or oxynitride of a first metal, and the superconductive layer is a nitride of a different second metal.

Circuits and methods related to temperature sensing of regions within a superconducting integrated circuit (IC) using in-situ resonators are described. An example relates to a superconducting IC including a first resonator having a first spatial location in relation to a floor plan of the superconducting IC. The superconducting IC further includes a second resonator having a second spatial location in relation to the floor plan of the superconducting IC. The superconducting IC further includes a feed line configured to provide a test signal to each of the first resonator and the second resonator in order to elicit a frequency response from the first resonator or the second resonator, where the frequency response is correlated with a first region within the superconducting IC corresponding to the first spatial location or with a second region within the superconducting IC corresponding to the second spatial location.

A buffer layer can be used to smooth the surface roughness of a galvanic contact layer (e.g., of niobium) in an electronic device, the buffer layer being made of a stack of at least four (e.g., six) layers of a face-centered cubic (FCC) crystal structure material, such as copper, the at least four FCC material layers alternating with at least three layers of a body-centered cubic (BCC) crystal structure material, such as niobium, wherein each of the FCC material layers and BCC material layers is between about five and about ten angstroms thick. The buffer layer can provide the smoothing while still maintaining desirable transport properties of a device in which the buffer layer is used, such as a magnetic Josephson junction, and magnetics of an overlying magnetic layer in the device, thereby permitting for improved magnetic Josephson junctions (MJJs) and thus improved superconducting memory arrays and other devices.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, provided is a method for manufacturing a superconductor including magnesium diboride, the method including: a first mixture preparation step of preparing a first mixture including a boron powder and a liquid chlorinated hydrocarbon compound; a second mixture preparation step of preparing a second mixture including the first mixture and a magnesium powder; a molded body manufacturing step of manufacturing a molded body by pressurizing the second mixture; and a sintering step of sintering the molded body to manufacture a superconductor including magnesium diboride.

A reinforced thin-film device (100, 200, 500) including a substrate (101) having a top surface for supporting an epilayer; a mask layer (103) patterned with a plurality of nanosize cavities (102, 102′) disposed on said substrate (101) to form a needle pad; a thin-film (105) of lattice-mismatched semiconductor disposed on said mask layer (103), wherein said thin-film (105) comprises a plurality of in parallel spaced semiconductor needles (104, 204) of said lattice-mismatched semiconductor embedded in said thin-film (105), wherein said plurality of semiconductor needles (104, 204) are substantially vertically disposed in the axial direction toward said substrate (101) in said plurality of nanosize cavities (102, 102′) of said mask layer (103), and where a lattice-mismatched semiconductor epilayer (106) is provided on said thin-film supported thereby.

One aspect provides semiconductor-superconductor hybrid device comprises a substrate, a first semiconductor component arranged on the substrate, a superconductor component arranged to be capable of energy level hybridisation with the first semiconductor component, and a second semiconductor component arranged as a gate electrode for gating the first semiconductor component. Another aspect provides a semiconductor-superconductor hybrid device, comprising: a substrate; a semiconductor component arranged on the substrate; a gate electrode for gating the semiconductor component; and a superconductor component capable of undergoing energy level hybridisation with the semiconductor component; wherein the gate electrode is arranged in a channel in the substrate. Also provided are methods of fabricating the semiconductor-superconductor hybrid devices.

The invention relates to a magnet apparatus for generating a magnetic field, the magnet apparatus comprising: at least three coils arranged besides each other along a first axis in a first plane, wherein each coil comprises a conductor comprising a material having superconducting properties at an operating temperature, the coils further comprise two legs and two bent end sections in the first plane, wherein a first and a second leg are arranged parallel to each other along a second axis in the first plane transverse to the first axis, and the two bent sections are arranged opposite to each other; and a controller arranged to control currents through the respective coils to obtain a current distribution in the first plane, wherein a current direction of the current distribution is alternating between opposite directions parallel to the second axis, with a period λ along the first axis. The invention also related to a magnetic density separation apparatus comprising the magnet apparatus.

Various articles and devices can be manufactured to take advantage of a what is believed to be a novel thermodynamic cycle in which spontaneity is due to an intrinsic entropy equilibration. The novel thermodynamic cycle exploits the quantum phase transition between quantum thermalization and quantum localization. Preferred devices include a phonovoltaic cell, a rectifier and a conductor for use in an integrated circuit.

A superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) device includes a substrate having a top surface, an optical waveguide on the top surface of the substrate to receive light propagating substantially parallel to the top surface of the substrate, a seed layer of metal nitride on the optical waveguide, and a superconductive wire on the seed layer. The superconductive wire is a metal nitride different from the metal nitride of the seed layer and is optically coupled to the optical waveguide.

The invention concerns an inteconnect device for interconnection between lines of superconducting material at least one via in contact with those lines, comprising:

a) a first substrate, which carries at least one first line of a first superconducting material;
b) at least one first via of a second superconducting material, different from the first superconducting material, said at least one first line being disposed between said first substrate and said first via;
c) at least one second line above said first via and in contact with the latter.