Attojoule Superconducting Thermal Logic and Memories

Journal Article (2025)
Author(s)

H. Wang (TU Delft - ImPhys/Esmaeil Zadeh group)

N. Noordzij (Single Quantum)

M. Mykhaylov (TU Delft - ImPhys/Esmaeil Zadeh group)

Stephan Steinhauer (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Thomas Descamps (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Eitan Oksenberg (Single Quantum)

Val Zwiller (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Iman Esmaeil Zahed (Single Quantum, TU Delft - ImPhys/Esmaeil Zadeh group)

Research Group
ImPhys/Esmaeil Zadeh group
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c06545
More Info
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Publication Year
2025
Language
English
Research Group
ImPhys/Esmaeil Zadeh group
Issue number
11
Volume number
25
Pages (from-to)
4401-4407
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Abstract

Due to stringent thermal budgets in cryogenic technologies such as superconducting quantum computers and sensors, electronic building blocks that simultaneously offer low energy consumption, fast switching, low error rates, a small footprint, and simple fabrication are pivotal for large-scale devices. Here, we demonstrate a superconducting switch with attojoule switching energy, high speed (pico-second rise/fall times), and high integration density (on the order of 10
-2 μm
2 per switch). It consists of a superconducting nanochannel and a metal heater separated by an insulating silica layer. We experimentally demonstrate digital gate operations utilizing these nanostructures, such as NOT, NAND, NOR, AND, and OR gates, with a few femtojoules of energy consumption and ultralow bit error rates <10
-8. In addition, we build energy-efficient volatile memory elements with nanosecond operation speeds and a retention time over 10
5 s. These superconducting switches open new possibilities for increasing the size and complexity of modern cryogenic technologies.