Samsung patents a specific way to build tiny superconducting circuits
Samsung has secured a patent for a specific method of manufacturing a Josephson junction, a component used in superconducting electronics. The design involves creating a trench in a substrate and placing a second superconducting electrode inside it so that it sits higher than the first electrode, separated by a thin insulating film.
In the filing’s own words
A Josephson junction device and a method of manufacturing the Josephson junction device are disclosed. The Josephson junction device includes a substrate having a top surface and a trench recessed below the first surface, wherein sidewalls of the substrate define sidewalls of the trench; a first superconducting electrode formed on the top surface of the substrate with sidewalls further defining the sidewalls of the trench; a tunneling thin film formed over the sidewalls of the substrate and over the sidewalls of the first superconducting electrode; and a second superconducting electrode formed in the trench in contact with the tunneling thin film and with top surface above the top surface of the substrate, wherein a superconducting tunnel junction is formed between the first superconducting electrode and the second superconducting electrode through the tunneling thin film.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A Josephson junction device comprising: a substrate having a first surface and a trench recessed below the first surface, wherein sidewalls of the substrate define sidewalls of the trench; a first superconducting electrode formed on the first surface of the substrate to be adjacent to the trench; a tunneling thin film formed over the sidewalls of the substrate and over a side surface of the first superconducting electrode adjacent to the trench; and a second superconducting electrode formed in the trench in contact with the tunneling thin film and with a top surface above the first surface of the substrate, wherein a superconducting tunnel junction is formed between the first superconducting electrode and the second superconducting electrode through the tunneling thin film, wherein a top surface of the second superconducting electrode is above the substrate within a height range of the first superconducting electrode.
Facts
- Company
- Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.)
- Official title
- Josephson junction device and method of manufacturing the same
- Patent number
- US12740331B2
- Application number
- 18116681
- Filed
- Mar 2, 2023
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 17
Classified under
H10N 60/805 Electricity & electronicsH10N 60/0912 Electricity & electronicsH10N 60/12 Electricity & electronicsMore from Samsung in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.