High quality superconducting NbN thin films on GaAs

A very promising way to increase the detection efficiency of nanowire superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) consists in integrating them with advanced optical structures such as distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) and optical waveguides. This requires transferring the challenging SSPD technology from the usual substrates, i.e. sapphire and MgO, to an optical substrate like GaAs, on which DBRs and waveguides can be easily obtained. Therefore, we optimized the deposition process of few-nm thick superconducting NbN films on GaAs and AlAs/GaAs-based DBRs at low temperatures (substrate temperature T-S = 400 degrees C), in order to prevent As evaporation. NbN films ranging from 150 to 3 nm in thickness were then deposited on single-crystal MgO, GaAs, MgO-buffered GaAs and DBRs by current-controlled DC magnetron sputtering (planar, circular, balanced configuration) of Nb in an Ar + N-2 plasma. 5.5 nm thick NbN films on GaAs exhibit T-C = 10.7 K, Delta T-C = 1.1 K and RRR = 0.7. The growth of such high quality thin NbN films on GaAs and DBRs has never been reported before.