Investigation of coherence of niobium-based resonators enabled by a fast-sealing microwave cavity

  1. Chi Zhang,
  2. Richard Germond,
  3. Noah Janzen,
  4. Anne-Marie Valente-Feliciano,
  5. Mustafa Bal,
  6. and Adrian Lupascu
Resonators and qubits with a niobium (Nb) base metal layer achieve some of the highest coherence times in superconducting quantum devices. The performance of such devices is often limited
by loss associated with two-level systems, which are found primarily at material surfaces and interfaces. The metal-air (MA) interface is a major contributor to device loss. In this work, we develop a fast-sealing microwave cavity that enables devices to be placed under vacuum within five minutes of oxide removal, thereby significantly reducing the MA interface loss compared to common device processing and packaging approaches. Using coplanar stripline resonators, we demonstrate that devices sealed in such a cavity exhibit internal quality factors exceeding one million at single-photon power. After re-exposure to air, the devices show downward resonance frequency shifts and quality factor degradations, quantitatively consistent with a model of Nb oxide regrowth. The fast-sealing microwave cavity provides a practical and consistent method to mitigate MA interface loss and sustain high coherence in Nb devices, and establishes a controlled platform for studying metal oxide regrowth kinetics and dielectric properties, the understanding of which is critical to achieving high coherence in superconducting quantum devices.

Aluminum air bridges for superconducting quantum devices realized using a single step electron-beam lithography process

  1. Noah Janzen,
  2. Michal Kononenko,
  3. Shaun Ren,
  4. and Adrian Lupascu
In superconducting quantum devices, air bridges enable increased circuit complexity and density as well as mitigate the risk of microwave loss arising from mode mixing. We implement
aluminum air bridges using a simple process based on single-step electron-beam gradient exposure. The resulting bridges have sizes ranging from 20 μm to 100 μm, with a yield exceeding 99 % for lengths up to 36 μm. When used to connect ground planes in coplanar waveguide resonators, the induced loss contributed to the system is negligible, corresponding to a reduction of the quality factor exceeding 1.0×108 per bridge. The bridge process is compatible with Josephson junctions and allows for the simultaneous creation of low loss bandages between superconducting layers.