The performance of a great variety of electronic devices-ranging from semiconductor transistors to superconducting qubits-is hampered by low-frequency noise with spectra proportional to 1/f. The ubiquity and negative impact of 1/f noise has motivated intensive research into its cause, and it is now believed to originate from a bath of fluctuating two-level defect states (TLSs) embedded in the material. This phenomenon is commonly described by the long-established standard tunnelling model (STM) of independent TLS. A key prediction of STM is that the noise should vanish at low temperatures. Here we report measurements on superconducting microresonators over previously unattainable, very long time scales that show an increase in 1/f noise at low temperatures and low microwave power, contrary to the STM. We propose a new generalised tunnelling model that includes significant interaction between multiple TLSs, which fully describes these observations, as well as recent studies of individual TLS lifetimes in superconducting qubits.
Half-metallicity, low magnetic damping and high Curie temperatures (TC) are crucial for application in spintronics and full Heusler alloys are promising in this regard.
An investigation was made of electrical properties of tungsten films of thickness in the range of 30–140 nm, grown by laser ablation deposition in ultrahigh vacuum on [1̄012] sapphire substrate. From the data on the size effect and the temperature dependence of the resistivity r, supported with reflection high energy electron diffraction measurements, we find that the films, deposited onto clean substrates kept at temperatures higher than 500 °C, grow epitaxially with high quality crystalline structure. The effective electron mean free path changes from 300 to 1400 nm while the residual resistance ratio RRR=r (295 K)/r (4.2 K) changes from 7 to 35. At low temperatures we find the temperature dependent part ρ(T)≊ATn, with A=1.56 mΩ cm K−n, n=3–3.4 for the temperatures T<20 K. From the fit of the data to the equations of the classical size effect theory it was found that the main source of electron scattering at helium temperatures is interface scattering with a specular coefficient q≊0.3 and the bulk electron mean free path l∞ (4.2 K)∼200 μm, which is up to 103 times larger than the film thickness.
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