Achieving amplification with high gain and quantum-limited noise is a difficult problem to solve. Parametric amplification using a superconducting transmission line with high kinetic inductance is a promising technology not only to solve this problem but also adding several benefits. Compared with other technologies, they have the potential to improve power saturation, achieve larger fractional bandwidths, and operate at higher frequencies. In this type of amplifier, the selection of the proper transmission line is a key element in its design. Given current fabrication limitations, traditional lines, such as coplanar waveguides (CPW), are not ideal for this purpose, since it is difficult to make them with the proper characteristic impedance for good matching and slow enough phase velocity for making them more compact. Capacitively loaded lines, also known as artificial lines, are a good solution to this problem. However, few design rules or models have been presented to guide their accurate design. This fact is even more crucial considering that they are usually fabricated in the form of Floquet lines that have to be designed carefully to suppress undesired harmonics appearing in the parametric process. In this article we present, first, a new modeling strategy, based on the use of electromagnetic-simulation software, and, second, a first-principles model that facilitate and speed the design of CPW artificial lines and of Floquet lines made out of them. Then, we present comparisons with experimental results that demonstrate their accuracy. Finally, the theoretical model allows one to predict the high-frequency behavior of the artificial lines, showing that they are good candidates for implementing parametric amplifiers above 100 GHz.@en

Parallel-plate capacitors (PPC) significantly reduce the size of superconducting microwave resonators, reducing the pixel pitch for arrays of single-photon energy-resolving kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs). The frequency noise of KIDs is typically limited by tunneling two-level systems (TLS), which originate from lattice defects in the dielectric materials required for PPCs. How the frequency noise level depends on the PPC's dimensions has not been experimentally addressed. We measure the frequency noise of 56 resonators with a-SiC:H PPCs, which cover a factor of 44 in PPC area and a factor of 4 in dielectric thickness. To support the noise analysis, we measure the resonators' TLS-induced power-dependent intrinsic loss and temperature-dependent resonance frequency shift. From the TLS models, we expect a geometry-independent microwave loss and resonance frequency shift, which is set by the TLS properties of the dielectric. However, we observe a thickness-dependent microwave loss and resonance frequency shift; this is explained by surface layers that limit the performance of PPC-based resonators. For a uniform dielectric, the frequency noise level should scale directly inversely with the PPC area and thickness. We observe that an increase in PPC size reduces the frequency noise, but the exact scaling is, in some cases, weaker than expected. Finally, we derive engineering guidelines for the design of KIDs based on PPC-based resonators.

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Understanding telescope pointing (i.e. line of sight) is important for observing the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and astronomical objects. The Moon is a candidate astronomical source for pointing calibration. Although the visible size of the Moon (30^{`</sup>) is larger than that of the planets, we can frequently observe the Moon once a month with a high signal-to-noise ratio. We developed a method for performing pointing calibration using observational data from the Moon. We considered the tilts of the telescope axes as well as the encoder and collimation offsets for pointing calibration. In addition, we evaluated the effects of the nonuniformity of the brightness temperature of the Moon, which is a dominant systematic error. As a result, we successfully achieved a pointing accuracy of 3.3<sup>`}. This is one order of magnitude smaller than an angular resolution of 36^`. This level of accuracy competes with past achievements in other ground-based CMB experiments using observational data from the planets.

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Kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are superconducting energy-resolving detectors, sensitive to single photons from the near-infrared to ultraviolet. We study a hybrid KID design consisting of a β-phase tantalum (β-Ta) inductor and a Nb-Ti-N interdigitated capacitor. The devices show an average intrinsic quality factor Qi of 4.3×105±1.3×105. To increase the power captured by the light-sensitive inductor, we 3D print an array of 150×150μm resin microlenses on the backside of the sapphire substrate. The shape deviation between design and printed lenses is smaller than 1μm, and the alignment accuracy of this process is δx=+5.8±0.5μm and δy=+8.3±3.3μm. We measure a resolving power for 1545-402 nm that is limited to 4.9 by saturation in the KID's phase response. We can model the saturation in the phase response with the evolution of the number of quasiparticles generated by a photon event. An alternative coordinate system that has a linear response raises the resolving power to 5.9 at 402 nm. We verify the measured resolving power with a two-line measurement using a laser source and a monochromator. We discuss several improvements that can be made to the devices on a route towards KID arrays with high resolving powers.

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Low-loss deposited dielectrics will benefit superconducting devices such as integrated superconducting spectrometers, superconducting qubits, and kinetic inductance parametric amplifiers. Compared with planar structures, multilayer structures such as microstrips are more compact and eliminate radiation loss at high frequencies. Multilayer structures are most easily fabricated with deposited dielectrics, which typically exhibit higher dielectric loss than crystalline dielectrics. We measure the subkelvin and low-power microwave and millimeter-submillimeter-wave dielectric loss of hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC:H), using superconducting chips with Nb-Ti-N/a-SiC:H/Nb-Ti-N microstrip resonators. We deposit the a-SiC:H by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition at a substrate temperature of 400°C. The a-SiC:H has a millimeter-submillimeter loss tangent ranging from 0.9×10-4 at 270 GHz to 1.5×10-4 at 385 GHz. The microwave loss tangent is 3.1×10-5. These are the lowest low-power subkelvin loss tangents that have been reported for microstrip resonators at millimeter-submillimeter and microwave frequencies. The a-SiC:H films are free of blisters and have low stress: -20 MPa compressive at 200-nm thickness to 60 MPa tensile at 1000-nm thickness.

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Advances in far infrared astronomy have been, and will be, defined by instrument capabilities. Especially relevant is the development of imaging spectrometers for the wavelength range of 0.03-3 mm, which are not available at all at this moment. We will discuss recent advances in this field: First, we discuss the development of miniature on-chip spectrometers, that can operate in a 0.09-1 THz by using lossless superconducting circuits to create miniature spectrometers. For higher frequencies this is not possible due to material limitations, moreover instruments have to be operated in space due to the opacity of the atmosphere. Recent proposals for new missions focus on space-based observatories with optics cooled down to 4K, which offer unprecedented spectral imaging speeds, but require large arrays of extremely sensitive detectors. In the second part of this paper we will discuss the development of microwave Kinetic Inductance detectors with a sensitivity of NEP. 3.1.10-20 W/ãHz, sufficient for these applications.@en

Superconducting resonators and transmission lines are fundamental building blocks of integrated circuits for millimeter-submillimeter astronomy. Accurate simulation of radiation loss from the circuit is crucial for the design of these circuits because radiation loss increases with frequency, and can thereby deteriorate the system performance. Here we show a stratification for a 2.5-dimensional method-of-moment simulator Sonnet EM that enables accurate simulations of the radiative resonant behavior of submillimeter-wave coplanar resonators and straight coplanar waveguides (CPWs). The Sonnet simulation agrees well with the measurement of the transmission through a coplanar resonant filter at 374.6 GHz. Our Sonnet stratification utilizes artificial lossy layers below the lossless substrate to absorb the radiation, and we use co-calibrated internal ports for de-embedding. With this type of stratification, Sonnet can be used to model superconducting millimeter-submillimeter wave circuits even when radiation loss is a potential concern.

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Integrated superconducting spectrometer (ISS) technology will enable ultra-wideband, integral-field spectroscopy for (sub)millimeter-wave astronomy, in particular, for uncovering the dust-obscured cosmic star formation and galaxy evolution over cosmic time. Here, we present the development of DESHIMA 2.0, an ISS for ultra-wideband spectroscopy toward high-redshift galaxies. DESHIMA 2.0 is designed to observe the 220–440 GHz band in a single shot, corresponding to a redshift range of z = 3.3–7.6 for the ionized carbon emission ([C II] 158 μ m). The first-light experiment of DESHIMA 1.0, using the 332–377 GHz band, has shown an excellent agreement among the on-sky measurements, the laboratory measurements, and the design. As a successor to DESHIMA 1.0, we plan the commissioning and the scientific observation campaign of DESHIMA 2.0 on the ASTE 10-m telescope in 2023. Ongoing upgrades for the full octave-bandwidth system include the wideband 347-channel chip design and the wideband quasi-optical system. For efficient measurements, we also develop the observation strategy using the mechanical fast sky-position chopper and the sky-noise removal technique based on a novel data-scientific approach. In the paper, we show the recent status of the upgrades and the plans for the scientific observation campaign.

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Typical materials for optical Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detetectors (MKIDs) are metals with a natural absorption of ∼ 30–50% in the visible and near-infrared. To reach high absorption efficiencies (90–100%) the KID must be embedded in an optical stack. We show an optical stack design for a 60 nm TiN film. The optical stack is modeled as sections of transmission lines, where the parameters for each section are related to the optical properties of each layer. We derive the complex permittivity of the TiN film from a spectral ellipsometry measurement. The designed optical stack is optimised for broadband absorption and consists of, from top (illumination side) to bottom: 85 nm SiO₂, 60 nm TiN, 23 nm of SiO₂, and a 100 nm thick Al mirror. We show the modeled absorption and reflection of this stack, which has >80% absorption from 400 to 1550 nm and near-unity absorption for 500–800 nm. We measure transmission and reflection of this stack with a commercial spectrophotometer. The results are in good agreement with the model.

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Superconducting circuit elements used in millimeter-submillimeter (mm-submm) astronomy would greatly benefit from deposited dielectrics with small dielectric loss and noise. This will enable the use of multilayer circuit elements and thereby increase the efficiency of mm-submm filters and allow for a miniaturization of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs). Amorphous dielectrics introduce excess loss and noise compared with their crystalline counterparts, due to two-level system defects of unknown microscopic origin. We deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon films using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, at substrate temperatures of 100°C, 250°C, and 350°C. The measured void volume fraction, hydrogen content, microstructure parameter, and bond-Angle disorder are negatively correlated with the substrate temperature. All three films have a loss tangent below 10-5 for a resonator energy of 105 photons, at 120 mK and 4 to 7 GHz. This makes these films promising for MKIDs and on-chip mm-submm filters.

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Aims. Future actively cooled space-borne observatories for the far-infrared, loosely defined as a 1-10 THz band, can potentially reach a sensitivity limited only by background radiation from the Universe. This will result in an increase in observing speed of many orders of magnitude. A spectroscopic instrument on such an observatory requires large arrays of detectors with a sensitivity expressed as a noise equivalent power NEP = 3 × 10-20 W√ p Hz. Methods. We present the design, fabrication, and characterisation of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs) for this frequency range reaching the required sensitivity. The devices are based on thin-film NbTiN resonators which use lens-antenna coupling to a submicron-width aluminium transmission line at the shorted end of the resonator where the radiation is absorbed. We optimised the MKID geometry for a low NEP by using a small aluminium volume of ≈1 μm3 and fabricating the aluminium section on a very thin (100 nm) SiN membrane. Both methods of optimisation also reduce the effect of excess noise by increasing the responsivity of the device, which is further increased by reducing the parasitic geometrical inductance of the resonator. Results. We measure the sensitivity of eight MKIDs with respect to the power absorbed in the detector using a thermal calibration source filtered in a narrow band around 1.5 THz. We obtain a NEPexp(Pabs) = 3:1 ± 0:9 × 10-20 W√ p Hz at a modulation frequency of 200 Hz averaged over all measured MKIDs. The NEP is limited by quasiparticle trapping. Conclusions. The measured sensitivity is sufficient for spectroscopic observations from future, actively cooled space-based observatories. Moreover, the presented device design and assembly can be adapted for frequencies up to ≈10 THz and can be readily implemented in kilopixel arrays.

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We present a "mix-and-match"process to create large structures with submicrometer features by combining UV contact lithography and 100 kV electron-beam lithography in a single layer of negative-tone resist: Micro-Resist-Technology ma-N1405. The resist is successfully applied for the fabrication of an on-chip terahertz spectrometer, where the design requires 450 nm wide lines and 300 nm wide trenches in a 150 nm thick niobium-titanium-nitride layer, tolerating errors of ± 30 nm. We use a resist thickness of 500 nm, optimized to allow reliable SF 6/O 2-based reactive ion etching of structures with 30 nm accuracy. We find that resist requires an electron-beam cross-linking dose of 1100 μ C / c m 2 for an acceleration voltage of 100 kV in combination with a 180 s 100 °C bake on a hot plate and 45 s development. The smallest resist bars made with our dedicated recipe are 100 nm wide, with the smallest gaps about 300 nm. The difference between the designed and realized feature size is between 2 and 30 nm for structures up to 700 nm wide. The optical exposure dose is 300 m J / c m 2 for the same development time and is optimized to produce a positive sloped edge profile allowing good step coverage for subsequent layers. The resist can be applied, shipped, and processed in a time span of a couple of days without notable deterioration of patterning quality.

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A focal plane array of extended-hemispherical silicon lenses coupled to aluminum coplanar-waveguide (CPW) Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) has been designed to operate at 7.8 THz. Low-dispersive leaky-wave radiation has been used to efficiently illuminate the antireflection-coated lenses. To minimize the radiation loss from the antenna feeding lines at these high frequencies, the CPWs have been miniaturized and placed on a dielectric membrane. A test device has been fabricated and its experimental characterization in terms of sensitivity, optical coupling, and beam patterns is ongoing.@en

A superconducting microstrip half-wavelength resonator is proposed as a suitable band-pass filter for broadband moderate spectral resolution spectroscopy for terahertz (THz) astronomy. The proposed filter geometry has a free spectral range of an octave of bandwidth without introducing spurious resonances, reaches a high coupling efficiency in the pass-band and shows very high rejection in the stop-band to minimize reflections and cross-talk with other filters. A spectrally sparse prototype filter-bank in the band 300400 GHz has been developed employing these filters as well as an equivalent circuit model to anticipate systematic errors. The fabricated chip has been characterized in terms of frequency response, reporting an average peak coupling efficiency of 27% with an average spectral resolution of 940.

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We present a lab-on-chip experiment to accurately measure losses of superconducting microstrip lines at microwave and submillimeter wavelengths. The microstrips are fabricated from Nb-Ti-N, which is deposited using reactive magnetron sputtering, and amorphous silicon which is deposited using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). Submillimeter wave losses are measured using on-chip Fabry-Perot resonators (FPRs) operating around 350 GHz. Microwave losses are measured using shunted half-wave resonators with an identical geometry and fabricated on the same chip. We measure a loss tangent of the amorphous silicon at single-photon energies of tan⁡δ=3.7±0.5×10-5 at approximately 6GHz and tan⁡δ=2.1±0.1×10-4 at 350 GHz. These results represent very low losses for deposited dielectrics, but the submillimeter wave losses are significantly higher than the microwave losses, which cannot be understood using the standard two-level system loss model.

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This paper describes the microfabrication and electrical characterization of aluminum-coated superconducting through-silicon vias (TSVs) with sharp superconducting transition above 1 K. The sharp superconducting transition was achieved by means of fully conformal and void-free DC-sputtering of the TSVs with Al, and is here demonstrated in up to 500μ m-deep vias. Full conformality of Al sputtering was made possible by shaping the vias with a tailored hourglass profile, which allowed a metallic layer as thick as 430 nm to be deposited in the center of the vias. Single-via electric resistance as low as 160 mΩ at room temperature and superconductivity at 1.27 K were measured by a three-dimensional (3D) cross-bridge Kelvin resistor structure. This work establishes a CMOS-compatible fabrication process suitable for arrays of superconducting TSVs and 3D integration of superconducting silicon-based devices. [2020-0354].

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The idea that preformed Cooper pairs could exist in a superconductor at temperatures higher than its zero-resistance critical temperature (T_c) has been explored for unconventional, interfacial, and disordered superconductors, but direct experimental evidence is lacking. We used scanning tunneling noise spectroscopy to show that preformed Cooper pairs exist up to temperatures much higher than T_c in the disordered superconductor titanium nitride by observing an enhancement in the shot noise that is equivalent to a change of the effective charge from one to two electron charges. We further show that the spectroscopic gap fills up rather than closes with increasing temperature. Our results demonstrate the existence of a state above T_c that, much like an ordinary metal, has no (pseudo)gap but carries charge through paired electrons.

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We measure temperature-dependent quasiparticle fluctuations in a small Al volume, embedded in a NbTiN superconducting microwave resonator. The resonator design allows for readout close to equilibrium. By placing the Al film on a membrane, we enhance the fluctuation level and separate quasiparticle effects from phonon effects. When lowering the temperature, the recombination time saturates and the fluctuation level reduces by a factor ∼100. From this we deduce that the number of free quasiparticles is still thermal. Therefore, the theoretical, inverse relation between the quasiparticle number and recombination time is invalid in this experiment. This is consistent with quasiparticle trapping, where on-trap recombination limits the observed quasiparticle lifetime.

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A noiseless, photon-counting detector, which resolves the energy of each photon, could radically change astronomy, biophysics, and quantum optics. Superconducting detectors promise an intrinsic resolving power at visible wavelengths of R=E/δE≈100 due to their low excitation energy. We study superconducting energy-resolving microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKIDs), which hold particular promise for larger cameras. A visible and near-infrared photon absorbed in the superconductor creates a few thousand quasiparticles through several stages of electron-phonon interaction. Here we demonstrate experimentally that the resolving power of MKIDs at visible to near-infrared wavelengths is limited by the loss of hot phonons during this process. We measure the resolving power of our aluminum-based detector as a function of photon energy using four lasers with wavelengths between 1545-402nm. For detectors on thick SiN/Si and sapphire substrates the resolving power is limited to 10-21 for the respective wavelengths, consistent with the loss of hot phonons. When we suspend the sensitive part of the detector on a 110-nm-thick SiN membrane, the measured resolving power improves to 19-52, respectively. The improvement is equivalent to a factor 8±2 stronger phonon trapping on the membrane, which is consistent with a geometrical phonon propagation model for these hot phonons. We discuss a route towards the Fano limit by phonon engineering.

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