Multilayered Heater Nanocryotron: A Superconducting-Nanowire-Based Thermal Switch
Reza Baghdadi, Jason P. Allmaras, Brenden Butters, Andrew E. Dane, Saleem Iqbal, Adam N. McCaughan, Emily Toomey, Qingyuan Zhao, A. G. Kozorezov, Karl K. Berggren
Abstract
We demonstrate a multilayer nanoscale cryogenic heater-based switch (M-hTron) that uses a normal-metal heater overlapping a thin-film superconductor separated by a thin insulating layer. The M-hTron eliminates leakage current found in three-terminal superconducting switches and applies heat locally to the superconductor, reducing the energy required to switch the device. Modeling using the energy-balance equations and the acoustic mismatch model demonstrates reasonable agreement with experiment. The M-hTron is a promising device for digital superconducting electronics that require high fan-out and offers the possibility of enhancing readout for superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors.