In a newly published\u00a0paper<\/a>\u00a0in the journal\u00a0Nature Nanotechnology, an international team of scientists reports producing a form of germanium that is superconducting\u2014able to conduct electricity with zero resistance, which allows currents to flow indefinitely without energy loss, resulting in greater operational speed that requires less energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEstablishing superconductivity in germanium, which is already widely used in computer chips and fiber optics, can potentially revolutionize scores of consumer products and industrial technologies,\u201d says New York University physicist Javad Shabani, director of NYU\u2019s Center of Quantum Information Physics and the university\u2019s newly established Quantum Institute, one of the paper\u2019s authors.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese materials could underpin future quantum circuits, sensors, and low-power cryogenic electronics, all of which need clean interfaces between superconducting and semiconducting regions,\u201d adds Peter Jacobson, a physicist at the University of Queensland and one of the paper\u2019s authors. \u201cGermanium is already a workhorse material for advanced semiconductor technologies, so by showing it can also become superconducting under controlled growth conditions there\u2019s now potential for scalable, foundry-ready quantum devices.\u201d<\/p>\n Semiconductor materials such as germanium and silicon, both diamond-like crystals, are group IV elements, whose electronic behavior straddles that of metals and insulators. These materials are useful in manufacturing because of their flexibility and durability. Achieving superconductivity in these elements is accomplished by manipulating their structure to introduce numerous conducting electrons. These electrons interact with the germanium crystal to pair with one another and move without resistance \u2014 a process that has historically been challenging to control at the atomic level.<\/p>\n \u201cEstablishing superconductivity in germanium, which is already widely used in computer chips and fiber optics, can potentially revolutionize scores of consumer products and industrial technologies.\u201d\u00a0 New York University\u2019s Javad Shabani, director of NYU\u2019s Center of Quantum Information Physics and Quantum Institute<\/p>\n In the\u00a0Nature Nanotechnology\u00a0work, the scientists created germanium films that were heavily infused with a softer element, gallium, which is also commonly used in electronics. This long-established process, known generically as \u2018doping,\u2019 alters a semiconductor\u2019s electrical properties\u2014but at high levels of gallium, typically the material becomes unstable, leading to a breakdown of the crystal and no superconductivity.<\/p>\n
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Josephson junction structures \u2014 quantum devices made of two superconductors and a thin non-superconducting barrier \u2014 using different forms of germanium (Ge): super-Ge (in gold), semiconducting Ge (in blue), and super-Ge on wafer-level scale. Millions of Josephson junction pixels (10 micrometer square) can be created with this new material stack on wafer scale. Inset shows crystalline form of Super-Ge on the same matrix of semiconductor Ge, a key for crystalline Josephson junction. Image by Patrick Strohbeen\/NYU<\/p>\n