Room temperature pure α-phase tantalum films on sapphire for superconducting qubits
作者:Kunliang Bu,Zhiwen Zong,Zhenxing Zhang,Xingyu Ma,Ming Shao,Dengfeng Li,Yuan Li,Jingjing Hu,Sainan Huai,Shuoming An,Tianqi Cai,Xiaopei Yang,Maochun Dai,Yi-Cong Zheng and Shengyu Zhang 日期:11 February,2025
Tantalum (Ta) films with a body-centered cubic α-phase play a crucial role in high-performance Ta-based superconducting quantum processors. The growth of pure α-Ta at low temperatures has been a long-term goal. Existing experience with Ta growth on silicon substrates has led to the belief that α-Ta can only be stabilized at high temperatures. In this study, we systematically analyzed the growth mechanism of Ta films on sapphire substrates using first-principles calculations, revealing a narrow growth energy window for pure α-Ta at room temperature (RT). This finding indicates the feasibility of obtaining pure α-Ta at significantly lower temperatures. Experimentally, we successfully achieved pure α-Ta at RT via magnetron sputtering by meticulously adjusting the growth parameters. The resulting superconducting resonators based on the developed RT α-Ta exhibit an internal quality factor (Qi) of approximately 2.1 × 106 at single-photon levels, comparable to those fabricated at high temperatures. Additionally, fixed-frequency transmon qubits fabricated using the RT α-Ta film demonstrate a coherence time exceeding 280 μs, underscoring the film’s high quality. The RT α-Ta without a seed layer simplifies the fabrication process, offering a more efficient and flexible approach for producing Ta-based superconducting quantum processors.