We present the findings of the superconductivity in the silicon nanostructures prepared by short time diffusion of boron after preliminary oxidation of the n-type Si (100) surface. These Si-based nanostructures represent the p-type high mobility silicon quantum well (Si-QW) confined by the delta - barriers heavily doped with boron. The ESR studies show that the delta - barriers appear to consist of the trigonal dipole centers, B(+)-B(-), which are caused by the negative-U reconstruction of the shallow boron acceptors, 2B(0)=>B(+)-B(-). The temperature and magnetic field dependencies of the resistance, thermo-emf, specific heat and magnetic susceptibility demonstrate that the high temperature superconductivity observed seems to result from the transfer of the small hole bipolarons through these negative-U dipole centers of boron at the Si-QW - delta - barrier interfaces. The value of the superconductor energy gap obtained is in a good agreement with the data derived from the oscillations of the conductance in normal state and of the zero-resistance supercurrent in superconductor state as a function of the bias voltage. These oscillations appear to be correlated by on- and off-resonance tuning the two-dimensional subbands of holes with the Fermi energy in the superconductor delta - barriers. Finally, the proximity effect in the S- Si-QW -S structure is revealed by the findings of the multiple Andreev reflection (MAR) processes and the quantization of the supercurrent.
We present the findings of the superconductivity in the silicon nanostructures prepared by short time diffusion of boron of the n - type Si (100) surface. These Si - based nanostructures represent the p - type ultra-narrow self - assembled silicon quantum wells confined by the delta - barriers heavily with boron. The resistivity, thermo - emf and magnetic susceptibility studies show that the high temperature superconductivity observed seems to result from the single - hole tunnelling into the negative - U boron centres at the silicon quantum well - delta - barier interfaces.
We present the first findings of the new electrically-detected electron spin resonance technique (EDESR), which reveal the point defects in the ultra-narrow silicon quantum wells (Si-QW) confined by the superconductor delta-barriers. This technique allows the ESR identification without application of an external cavity, as well as a high frequency source and recorder, and with measuring the only response of the magnetoresistance, with internal GHz Josephson emission within frameworks of the normal-mode coupling (NMC) caused by the microcavities embedded in the Si-QW plane.
We present high resolution tunneling spectroscopy data at very low temperatures on superconducting nanostructures of lead built with an STM. By applying magnetic fields, superconductivity is restricted to length scales of the order of the coherence length. We measure the tunneling conductance and analyze the phonon structure and the low energy DOS. We demonstrate the influence of the geometry of the system on the magnetic field dependence of the tunneling density of states, which is gapless in a large range of fields. The behavior of the features in the tunneling conductance associated to phon…
We study graphene ferromagnet/superconductor/ferromagnet (F/S/F) nanostructures via a microscopic self-consistent Dirac Bogoliubov-de Gennes formalism. We show that as a result of proximity effects, experimentally accessible spin switching phenomena can occur as one tunes the Fermi level $μ_F$ of the F regions or varies the angle $θ$ between exchange field orientations. Superconductivity can then be switched on and off by varying either $θ$ or $μ_F$ (a spin-controlled superconducting graphene switch). The induced equal-spin triplet correlations in S can be controlled by tuning $μ_F$, effective…
Magnetization hysteresis loops of tin samples with an inverted opal structure are presented. The sample formed by tin particles with the size of 70 and 128 nm is found to be a type-I superconductor. The tin sample formed by 80 and 42 nm particles demonstrates an analog of intertype superconductivity: features of both type-I and II superconductors are observed on the magnetization isothermal curves. Behaviors of the irreversible and reversible magnetization support coexistence of type-I and II superconducting nanoparticles in this sample.
We present the findings of the superconductivity observed in the silicon nanostructures prepared by short time diffusion of boron on the n-type Si(100) surface. These Si-based nanostructures represent the p-type ultra-narrow self-assembled silicon quantum wells, 2nm, confined by the delta - barriers heavily doped with boron, 3nm. The EPR and the thermo-emf studies show that the delta - barriers appear to consist of the trigonal dipole centres, which are caused by the negative-U reconstruction of the shallow boron acceptors. Using the CV and thermo-emf techniques, the transport of two-dimension…
In this comment we point out that the experimental evidence for superconductivity presented by Thapa and Pandey in arXiv:1807.08572 is also consistent with a percolation transition. We propose simple follow-up experiments which would help to eliminate percolation as a possible explanation for the observed data.
Among iron based superconductors, the layered iron chalcogenide Fe(Te1-xSex) is structurally the simplest and has attracted considerable attentions. It has been speculated from bulk studies that nanoscale inhomogeneous superconductivity may inherently exist in this system. However, this has not been directly observed from nanoscale transport measurements. In this work, through simple micromechanical exfoliation and high precision low-energy ion milling thinning, we prepared Fe(Te0.5Se0.5) nano-flake with various thickness and systematically studied the correlation between the thickness and sup…
A recent preprint [arxiv:1807.08572] has reported the observation of room temperature supercondutivity in a nanostructured solid composed of gold and silver nanocrystals. Given the extraordinary and exciting nature of this claim, it is worth examining the reported data closely. In this short comment I point out a very surprising feature in the data: an identical pattern of noise for two presumably independent measurements of the magnetic susceptibility as a function of temperature.
Scanning tunneling spectroscopies in the subKelvin temperature range were performed on superconducting Silicon epilayers doped with Boron in the atomic percent range. The resulting local differential conductance behaved as expected for a homogeneous superconductor, with an energy gap dispersion below +/- 10%. The spectral shape, the amplitude and temperature dependence of the superconductivity gap follow the BCS model, bringing further support to the hypothesis of a hole pairing mechanism mediated by phonons in the weak coupling limit.
I briefly mention a previous claim of room temperature superconductivity ( arXiv:0905.3524) in Ag-based oxide material and compare their results with the most recent claim of ambient temperature superconductivity in arXiv:1807.08572. In both cases, an electrical transition to low resistance state and diamagnetism are observed. Silver is a common ingredient in both claims. Does it mean that silver holds the key to RT superconductivity or, the missing field cool data (in both reports) hint of some other physical phenomenon than superconductivity.
Silicon, one of the most abundant elements found on Earth, has been an excellent choice of the semiconductor industry for ages. Despite it's remarkable applications in modern semiconductor-based electronic devices, the potential of cubic silicon in superconducting electronics remained a challenge because even heavily doped silicon crystals do not superconduct under normal conditions. It is apparent that if superconductivity can be introduced in cubic silicon, that will bring a breakthrough in low-dissipation electronic circuitry. Motivated by this, attempts have been made by several research g…
Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe heterostructures are known to exhibit interfacial superconductivity between two non-superconducting materials: Fe1+yTe as the parent compound of Fe-based superconducting materials and the topological insulator Bi2Te3. Here, we present a top-down approach starting from two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures to fabricate one-dimensional (1D) Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe nanowires or narrow nanoribbons. We demonstrate that the Bi2Te3/Fe1+yTe heterostructure remains intact in nanostructures of widths on the order of 100 nm and the interfacial superconductivity is preserved, as evidenced by electri…
Monovalent metals contain half filled band (HFB) of s-electrons. Emphasizing importance of Coulomb repulsions in HFB in 2D and 1D monovalent systems we sketched a theory (2018) for ambient temperature granular superconductivity reported by Thapa and Pandey (2018) in Au-Ag nanostructures (updated by Thapa et al., 2019). Sharpening our theory, we suggest that \textit{Coulomb repulsions in certain structurally perturbed regions (atomic clusters, stacking faults, grain boundaries etc.) create nanoscale reservoirs of singlet electron pairs}. These low dimensional patches are hybridized to a backgro…
The discoveries of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond (C:B) in 2004 and silicon (Si:B) in 2006 renew the interest in the superconducting state of semiconductors. Charge-carrier doping of wide-gap semiconductors leads to a metallic phase from which upon further doping superconductivity can emerge. Recently, we discovered superconductivity in a closely related system: heavily-boron doped silicon carbide (SiC:B). The sample used for that study consists of cubic and hexagonal SiC phase fractions and hence this lead to the question which of them participates in the superconductivity. …
We study a bilayer consisting of an ordinary superconductor and a magnet with a spiral magnetic structure of the {\rm Ho} type. We use a self consistent solution of the Bogolioubov-de Gennes equations to evaluate the pair amplitude, the transition temperature, and the thermodynamic functions, namely, the free energy and entropy. We find that for a range of thicknesses of the magnetic layer the superconductivity is reentrant with {\it temperature} $T$: as one lowers $T$ the system turns superconducting, and when $T$ is further lowered it turns normal again. This behavior is reflected in the con…
We observe large amplitude changes in the resistance of ferromagnetic (F) wires at the onset of superconductivity of adjacent superconductors (S). New sharp peaks of large amplitude are found in the magnetoresistance of the F-wires. We discuss a new mechanism for the long-range superconducting proximity effect in F/S nanostructures based on the analysis of the topologies of actual Fermi-surfaces in ferromagnetic metals.
We study within a first-principle approach the band structure, vibrational modes and electron-phonon coupling in boron, aluminum and phosphorus doped silicon in the diamond phase. Our results provide evidences that the recently discovered superconducting transition in boron doped cubic silicon can be explained within a standard phonon-mediated mechanism. The importance of lattice compression and dopant related stretching modes are emphasized. We find that T$_C$ can be increased by one order of magnitude by adopting aluminum doping instead of boron.
In 2004 the discovery of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond (C:B) led to an increasing interest in the superconducting phases of wide-gap semiconductors. Subsequently superconductivity was found in heavily boron-doped cubic silicon (Si:B) and recently in the stochiometric ''mixture'' of heavily boron-doped silicon carbide (SiC:B). The latter system surprisingly exhibits type-I superconductivity in contrast to the type-II superconductors C:B and Si:B. Here we will focus on the specific heat of two different superconducting samples of boron-doped SiC. One of them contains cubic and…
Proximity-effect and resistance magneto-fluctuations measurements in submicron Nd1.2Ba1.8Cu3Oz (NBCO) nano-loops are reported to investigate coherent charge transport in the non-superconducting state. We find an unexpected inhibition of cooper pair transport, and a destruction of the induced superconductivity, by lowering the temperature from 6K to 250mK. This effect is accompanied by a significant change in the conductance-voltage characteristics and in the zero bias conductance response to the magnetic field pointing to the activation of a strong pair breaking mechanism at lower temperature.…
The discoveries of superconductivity in heavily boron-doped diamond, silicon and silicon carbide renewed the interest in the ground states of charge-carrier doped wide-gap semiconductors. Recently, aluminium doping in silicon carbide successfully yielded a metallic phase from which at high aluminium concentrations superconductivity emerges. Here, we present a specific-heat study on superconducting aluminium-doped silicon carbide. We observe a clear jump anomaly at the superconducting transition temperature 1.5 K indicating that aluminium-doped silicon carbide is a bulk superconductor. An analy…
Superconductivity (S) and ferromagnetism (F) are probed through transport and magnetization measurements in nanometer scale HoNi$_5$-NbN (F-S) bilayers and HoNi$_5$-NbN-HoNi$_5$ (F-S-F) trilayers. The choice of materials has been made on the basis of their comparable ordering temperatures and strong magnetic anisotropy in HoNi$_5$. We observe the normal state reentrant behavior in resistance vs. temperature plots of the F-S-F structures just below the superconducting transition in the limited range of HoNi$_5$ layer thickness d$_{HN}$ (20 nm $<$ d$_{HN}$ $<$ 80 nm) when d$_{NbN}$ is fixed at $…
The discreteness of permitted state spectrum postulated on atomic level can be macroscopic in nanostructures and larger structures because of macroscopic quantum phenomena such as superconductivity. The change by jump of measured parameters because of the macroscopic discreteness may be used for some applications. A device is proposed measured parameters of which can change by jump at a weak change of external parameters. The devise consists of two superconductor loop connected with two Josephson junctions. The macroscopic parameter - maximum value of the super-current through the two Josephso…
Superconductivity results from a Bose condensate of Cooper-paired electrons with a macroscopic quantum wavefunction. Dramatic effects can occur when the region of the condensate is shaped and confined to the nanometer scale. Recent progress in nanostructured superconductors has revealed a route to topological superconductivity, with possible applications in quantum computing. However, challenges remain in controlling the shape and size of specific superconducting materials. Here, we report a new method to create nanostructured superconductors by partial crystallization of the half-Heusler mate…
Adsorption of one-third monolayer of Sn on an atomically-clean Si(111) substrate produces a two-dimensional triangular adatom lattice with one unpaired electron per site. This dilute adatom reconstruction is an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator; however, the system can be modulation-doped and metallized using heavily-doped p-type Si(111) substrates. Here, we show that the hole-doped dilute adatom layer on a degenerately doped p-type Si(111) wafer is superconducting with a critical temperature of 4.7 +- 0.3 K. While a phonon-mediated coupling scenario would be consistent with the observed TC, Mo…
In bulk materials superconductivity is remarkably robust with respect to non-magnetic disorder. In the two-dimensional limit however, the quantum condensate suffers from the effects produced by disorder and electron correlations which both tend to destroy superconductivity . The recent discovery of superconductivity in single atomic layers of Pb, the striped incommensurate (SIC) and $\sqrt{7}\times\sqrt{3}$ Pb/Si(111), opened an unique opportunity to probe the influence of well-identified structural disorder on two-dimensional superconductivity at the atomic and mesoscopic scale. In these two …
We show the possibility of inducing a superconductive phase transition in tetrahedrally coordinated semiconductors via field-effect (FET) doping by taking as an example the hydrogenated (111) silicon surface. We perform density functional theory computations of the electronic and vibrational properties of the system in the proper FET geometry, by taking into account the applied electric field and the induced charge density. Using a simplified superconductive model at $q=Γ$ and the McMillan/Allen-Dynes formula, we get an estimate of the superconductive critical temperature. We observe that, by …
In 2007, type-I superconductivity in heavily boron-doped silicon carbide was discovered. The question arose, if it is possible to achieve a superconducting phase by introducing dopants different from boron. Recently, aluminum-doped silicon carbide was successfully found to superconduct by means of resistivity and DC magnetization measurements. In contrast to boron-doped silicon carbide, the aluminum doped system is treated as a type-II superconductor because of the absence of an hysteresis in data measured upon decreasing and increasing temperature in finite magnetic fields. In this paper, res…
Semiconductivity and superconductivity are remarkable quantum phenomena that have immense impact on science and technology, and materials that can be tuned, usually by pressure or doping, to host both types of quantum states are of great fundamental and practical significance. Here we show by first-principles calculations a distinct route for tuning semiconductors into superconductors by diverse large-range elastic shear strains, as demonstrated in exemplary cases of silicon and silicon carbide. Analysis of strain driven evolution of bonding structure, electronic states, lattice vibration, and…
