The coplanar resonator technique for determining the surfaceimpedance of YBa2Cu3O7-δ thinfilms

We describe how coplanar microwave resonators fabricated from patterned thin films of YBa₂Cu₃O₇(-δ) (YBCO) can he used to measure the ab-plane microwave surface impedance Z_s=R_s+jX_s of the films, in particular the absolute value and temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth λ. The current distribution of the resonator is calculated by modelling the resonator as a network of coupled transmission lines of rectangular cross-sections; this is then used to estimate the ab-plane λ(T) from the measurements of resonators of different geometries patterned onto the same film. We obtain values of λ(0) in the range 150-220 nm. The unloaded quality factors of the linear resonators at 7.95 GHz are around 45000 at 15 K and around 6500 at 77 K. We estimate the corresponding values of the intrinsic R_s at 7.95 GHz to be 23 μΩ and 110 μΩ at 15 K and 77 K, respectively. These values are comparable with those of other high quality unpatterned YBCO films reported in the literature. Z_s for the best optimised films appears to be insensitive to the effects of patterning     

Comparison of high-temperature-superconductor and metal-basedresonators

A 50-Ω coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator designed for a fundamental frequency of about 4.75 GHz was fabricated on LaAlO₃ . Two versions were fabricated: the first using 1.9-μm-thick gold and the second using 0.6-μm-thick YBa₂Cu₃O ₇. The devices were identically packaged and tested at 77 K. It was found that the high-temperature superconductor (HTS) resonator had a surface resistance, R_s, about six to nine times lower than the Au one. At 45 K, the R_s of the HTS resonator decreases by another factor of 4 compared with its 77 K value. Device characteristics for the HTS resonator are presented     

Comparison of radio-frequency and microwave superconductingproperties of YBaCuO dedicated to magnetic resonance imaging

Properties of YBaCuO thin films are evaluated in two distinct frequency ranges using different patterns made during the same process on LaAlO₃ substrate. Microwave superconducting properties in the range 1-45 GHz are determined by S-parameters measurement of a superconducting coplanar waveguide in the range 53-95 K. We obtain a surface resistance of 0.4 mΩ at 10.8 GHz and 77 K. Radio-frequency properties are obtained by measuring the Q-factor of a superconducting resonator (YBCO multiturn transmission lines separated by a sapphire sheet) dedicated to surface magnetic resonance imaging. At 52 MHz and 77 K we measure a Q-factor of 33180. The extraction of the radio-frequency surface resistance from Q-factor measurements in the 64-95 K range takes into account external loss mechanisms and nonuniform normal current distribution and leads to a 0.0093-μΩ surface resistance at 52 MHz and 77 K, in good agreement with the value extrapolated from microwave measurements assuming an ω² frequency dependence. The evaluation of λ₀ is carried out by using several models for X_L(t). Least squares fits to data in the microwave and radio-frequency domain are performed using the Gorter-Casimir expression for X_L(t) and give the same λ₀ value for both devices     

High-temperature superconducting delay lines and filters onsapphire and thinned LaAlO3 substrates

The very low microwave surface resistance of high-temperature-superconductor (HTS) thin films allows the realization of microwave devices with performance superior to those made by conventional technology. Superconducting delay lines, for example, have very low propagation loss and dispersion. Long, low-loss, superconducting delay lines on both thinned LaAlO₃ and sapphire substrates are presented. Delay lines with 27- and 44-ns delay have been made, for the first time, on 5-cm-diameter 254- and 127-μm-thick LaAlO₃ substrates, respectively. The insertion losses at 77 K and 6 GHz are 6 and 16 dB, respectively. Delay lines with 9-ns delay have, for the first time, been produced on M-plane sapphire substrates and demonstrate, at 77 K, an insertion loss of 1.0 dB at 6 GHz. A 2.5%-bandwidth 10 GHz four pole edge-coupled bandpass filter on M-plane sapphire substrates is also reported. The filter has minimum insertion loss of less than 0.5 dB at 9.75 GHz and 71 K     

Sensitivity of Rs-measurement of HTS thin films by threeprime resonant techniques: cavity resonator, dielectric resonator, andmicrostrip resonator

The microwave surface resistance, R_s measurement of YBa ₂Cu₃0_{7 -δ} (YBCO) thin film deposited on 10 mm × 10 mm LaAlO₃ substrate using three prime resonating techniques, namely, cavity end plate substitution technique (20 GHz), dielectric resonator technique (18 GHz), and microstrip resonator technique (5 GHz), is reported. In addition, theoretical analysis for each technique has been performed to calculate the relative percentage error in the measured R_s -value of the YBCO thin film as a function of temperature. It has been found that the shielded dielectric resonator provides far better sensitivity for R.-measurement of the YBCO thin film with minimum relative percentage error (<4%) in the temperature range from 20 K to transition temperature of YBCO thin film compared to the other two techniques     

Adjustable multilayer HTS filters

An adjustable multilayer high-temperature superconductor (HTS) bandpass filter has been fabricated. Taped comb-line filters with multilayer structures were designed, YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) thin films deposited on LaAlO₃ were used to construct the packaged multilayer HTS filter. The electrical length of the resonators in the filter was smaller than a quarter-wave length. The frequency responses of the filter were measured at liquid nitrogen temperature 77 K. The insertion loss of the packaged filter was determined to be less than 0.5 dB. By mechanically adjusting the multilayer structure, the center frequencies of the filter changed from 1.78 to 1.92 GHz, and the variations of the bandwidth from 60 to 150 MHz were also obtained     

A 5-μm-wide 18-cm-long low-loss YBa2Cu3O7-δ coplanar line for future multichip moduletechnology

Narrow and low-loss YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) coplanar lines, which can be used in multichip module technology for future high-density and high-speed digital circuits, have been developed. Etch-back planarization and a patterning process combining Ar-ion milling and wet-etching enabled us to form an 18-cm-long 5-μm-wide YBCO coplanar line without electrical shorts, even for the narrow spacing of 2.5 μm. The surface resistance of this line was kept at a level comparable to that of 10- or 25-μm-wide YBCO coplanar lines and also comparable to that of unpatterned films. This indicates successful fabrication of the 5-μm-wide YBCO coplanar line without notable loss increase resulting from process damage. The 5-μm-wide line showed a low-transmission loss of 0.49 dB at 10 GHz and 55 K. This level of loss is similar to that in Cu coaxial cables. No significant increase in transmission loss was observed up to an input power level of 16 mW at 10 GHz and 55 K. This input power is comparable to the power-handling capability required for transmitting high-speed digital signals through the lines with characteristic impedance of 50 Ω. These results show that the narrow 5-μm-wide YBCO coplanar line has great potential for high-density and high-speed digital circuits     

Low- and high-temperature superconducting microwave filters

Stripline and microstrip filters at X-band were designed and fabricated using low- and high-temperature superconductors in quarter-wave, parallel-coupled section configurations. Low-temperature superconducting niobium thin films, deposited on single-crystal sapphire, were used to build to six-pole stripline filters with adjacent passbands and approximately 3 dB crossovers and 1.2% bandwidth. Four- and six-pole microstrip filters were made with in situ epitaxial YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO) films on LaAlO₃ substrates. All the YBCO filters showed 77 K passbands with clean skirts and high out-of-band rejection. The six-pole filters had adjacent passbands with -28 dB crossovers and 1.5% bandwidth     

Attenuation and dispersion for high-Tc superconductingmicrostrip lines

The attenuation and dispersion of microstrip lines of the high-T_c superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO) on yttria-stabilized zirconia substrates as a function of frequency and temperature are calculated. The effect on pulse propagation of superconducting and model dispersion in addition to the attenuation is demonstrated. At 60 K, microstrip lines of YBCO are significantly less attenuating at frequencies below 500 GHz than microstrip lines of copper at the same temperature. This advantage is particularly significant at the higher attenuations that result as the substrate thickness is made smaller for miniaturization or to improve the microstrip line bandwidth. The application of YBCO for microstrip lines appears to be most useful at frequencies above 100 GHz and dielectric thicknesses less than 100 μm, where the attenuation of cooled copper is prohibitively large. Cooled to temperatures below 20 K, YBCO may make possible a new generation of extremely high bandwidth (~5 THz), small-feature-size (~5 μm) circuits and devices     

High-Q LaAlO3 dielectric resonator shielded byYBCO-films

We have investigated a dielectric resonator consisting of a single crystalline LaAlO₃-cylinder shielded by a cylindrically shaped copper cavity with endplates made from epitaxial films of YBa₂Cu₃O₇ or niobium. For YBa₂ Cu₃O₇ films unloaded quality factors Q₀ of 4.5·10⁵ at 10 K and 1.3·10⁵ at 77 K were achieved at 11.6 GHz using a compact shielding cavity with a diameter of 15 mm and a height of 3.8 mm. The loss contributions of the dielectric resonator, the normal conducting cylinder wall, and the superconducting endplates, with one of them being separated by a small distance h from the dielectric cylinder, were calculated by modeling the electromagnetic fields of the TE_0νμ-modes. The dielectric loss tangent of the LaAlO ₃-cylinders was found to be 10^-6 at 4.3 K and f=11.6 GHz and to increase slightly with temperature. Moreover, the calculations indicate the tunability of the resonance frequency by changing h over a range of 1 GHz without significant degradation of Q ₀. These resonators are considered to be useful devices for stable oscillators and narrowband filters     

Coaxial line configuration for microwave power transmission studyof YBa2Cu3O7-δ thin films

Microwave transmission measurements through YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) high-transition-temperature superconducting thin films on lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO₃) have been performed in a coaxial line at 10 GHz. LaAlO₃ substrates were ultrasonically machined into washer-shaped discs, polished, and coated with laser-ablated YBCO. These samples were mounted in a 50-Ω coaxial air line to form a short circuit. The power transmitted through the films as a function of temperature was used to calculate the normal state conductivity and the magnetic penetration depth for the films     

Hybrid high temperature superconductor/GaAs 10 GHz microwaveoscillator: temperature and bias effects

Hybrid YBa₂Cu₃O_7-x superconductor/GaAs microwave oscillators have been designed, fabricated and characterized. The planar oscillators were built on a single 10 mm×10 mm LaAlO₃ substrate. The active elements in the hybrid oscillators were GaAs MESFETs. A ring resonator was used to select and stabilize the frequency. A superconducting ring resonator had a loaded Q at 77 Kg which was 8 times larger than the loaded Q of a ring resonator fabricated out of copper. S-parameters of the GaAs FET were measured at cryogenic temperatures and used to design the oscillator which had a reflection mode configuration. The transmission lines, RF chokes and bias lines were all fabricated from YBa₂Cu₃ O_7-x superconducting thin films. The performance of the oscillators was measured as a function of temperature. The rate of change of the frequency as a function of temperature was smaller for an oscillator patterned from a pulsed laser deposited film than for an oscillator patterned from a sputtered film. As a function of bias at 77 K, the best circuit had an output power of 11.5 dBm and a maximum efficiency of 11.7% The power of the second harmonic was 25 dB to 35 dB below that of the fundamental, for every circuit. At 77 K, the best phase noise of the superconducting oscillators was 68 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 10 kHz and less than -93 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 100 kHz. At an offset frequency of 10 kHz, the superconducting oscillator had 12 dB less phase noise than the copper oscillator at 77 K     

Measured performance at 77 K of superconducting microstripresonators and filters

Results on three types of passive microwave devices fabricated and tested using epitaxial thin films of Tl₂CaBa₂Cu ₂O₈ grown on LaAlO₃ are reported. A microstrip ring resonator with unloaded Q of 2740 at 77 K and 33 GHz is described. A superconducting 4.6 GHz band-reject filter with unloaded Q greater than 15000 when operated at 77 K is reported. In addition, results on a multiple microstrip bandpass filter are presented     

Buffer layers for high-quality epitaxial YBCO films on Si

Efforts aimed at producing device-quality YBa₂Cu₃ O_7-δ (YBCO) films on Si, which have resulted in films with properties comparable to what can be achieved with conventional oxide substrates such as SrTiO₃, are described. It is reported how epitaxial YBCO films were grown on Si(100) using an intermediate buffer layer of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). Both layers are grown with an entirely in situ process by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Ion channeling revealed a high degree of crystalline perfection with a channeling minimum yield for Ba as low as 12%. The normal state resistivity was 250-300 μΩ-cm at 300 K; the critical temperature, Tc (R=0), was 86-88 K, with a transition width of 1 K. Critical current densities of 2×10⁷ at 4.2 K and 2.2×10⁶ at 77 K have been achieved. Noise measurements indicate that these films are suitable for use in highly sensitive far-infrared bolometers. Applications of this technology to produce in situ reaction patterned microstrip lines are discussed     

YBCO superconducting ring resonators at millimeter-wave frequencies

Superconducting microstrip ring resonators operating at 35 GHz have been fabricated from laser ablated YBa₂Cu₃O _7-x (YBCO) films on lanthanum aluminate substrates. The circuits consisted of superconducting strips over normal metal ground planes. The circuits are measured from 20 K to 90 K and with microwave input powers ranging from 0.25 mW to 10 mW. The superconducting resonators show significant improvement in Q over identical gold resonators at 20 K, but only marginal improvement at 77 K. No variation in the superconductor performance is observed with varying input power. The lowest microwave surface resistance of the superconductors at 77 K is 9 mΩ. The change in the resonant frequency with temperature is analyzed and a value for the penetration depth computed. Double resonances were observed in some superconducting ring resonators and an explanation is advanced. Factors limiting millimeter-wave high-temperature superconductor circuits are explored and potential performance levels calculated based on current reported values for high-temperature superconductor surface resistances     

5 GHz high-temperature-superconductor resonators with high Q and low power dependence up to 90 K

The authors have fabricated high-temperature superconducting films made of TlBaCaCuO (2212) and YBaCuO (123) by postdeposition annealing techniques on (100) LaAlO₃ substrates. These films, especially the TlBaCaCuO(2212), exhibit high temperature operation, high Q (low surface resistance), and low power dependence. Both types of films have measured surface resistances which are better than 1/10 that of copper to 20 GHz. Microstrip resonators with a fundamental resonance frequency of 5 GHz were fabricated from these materials. The performance of the best resonator at 90 K (loaded Q>20000 at 5 GHz) was 50 times better than an analogous copper resonator (also measured at 90 K) and can handle more than 10 W of peak power in the resonator with only a small degradation of the Q. In addition, the shift of the resonator frequencies with temperature was fit to a two-fluid model     

0.3 dB minimum noise figure at 2.5 GHz of 0.13 μm Si/Si0.58Ge0.42 n-MODFETs

RF and microwave noise performances of strained Si/Si_0.58 Ge_0.42 n-MODFETs are presented for the first time. The 0.13 μm gate devices have de-embedded f_T=49 GHz, f_max =70 GHz and a record intrinsic g_m=700 mS/mm. A de-embedded minimum noise figure NF_min=0.3 dB with a 41 Ω noise resistance R_n and a 19 dB associated gain G_ass are obtained at 2.5 GHz, while NF_min=2.0 dB with G_ass=10 dB at 18 GHz. The noise parameters measured up to 18 GHz and from 10 to 180 mA/mm with high gain and low power dissipation show the potential of SiGe MODFETs for mobile communications     

Surface resistance measurements of HTS films by means of sapphiredielectric resonators

A sapphire dielectric resonator with a copper cylindrical shield and two endplates replaced by high-temperature superconducting (HTS) layers was used for very accurate surface resistance measurements on laser-ablated YBCO films. A system using the TE₀₁₁ mode has a resonant frequency of about 18.1 GHz and parasitic-loss Q factor of about 120000. It allows 10 mm×10 mm samples to be measured with sensitivity of ±30 μΩ. Individual samples can be measured with somewhat lower accuracy. Using larger HTS samples, one can reduce parasitic losses of the system to an unsignificant level. The exact formulas presented for the resonant system allow for avoiding calibration procedures during the evaluation of the surface resistance     

High-Tc superconducting coplanar waveguidefilter

Coplanar waveguide (CPW) low-pass filters made of YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) on LaAlO₃ substrates, with dimensions suited for integrated circuits, were fabricated and packaged. A complete filter gives a true idea of the advantages and difficulties in replacing thin-film metal with a high-temperature superconductor in a practical circuit. Measured insertion losses in liquid nitrogen were superior to the loss of a similar thin-film copper filter throughout the 0- to 9.5-GHz passband. These results demonstrate the performance of fully patterned YBCO in a practical CPW structure after sealing in a hermetic package     

Miniaturized high-temperature superconductor microstrip patchantenna

Experimental as well as computational results are presented for 2.4 GHz microstrip antennas which are miniaturized (total length, 6 mm) by both a new, stepped impedance patch shape and a relatively high substrate permittivity. The antennas investigated were fabricated from YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ thin films epitaxially grown on single-crystalline LaAlO₃ substrates by pulsed excimer laser ablation or by high-pressure oxygen DC sputtering and, for comparison, from copper on the same substrate material. It is shown that the radiation efficiency of this antenna structure is only about 1% to 6% for copper at 77 K but is increased to values between 35% and 65% for HTS films. From experimental investigations of the power dependence of the antenna gain at 77 K, nonlinearities, especially a sharp drop at a current density of about 2×10⁶ A/cm², were observed