High‐temperature superconducting thin films: High‐speed electronics perspective

The recent development of the high Tc superconductors has brought on a reevaluation of high speed electronic devices. In addition to the use of high Tc thin films for interconnects between semiconductor transistors, it is possible to use these materials in developing ultra high speed hybrid superconductor/semiconductor electronics. Josephson junctions have been the work horse of superconducting electronics to date, but they unfortunately do not provide a current gain. In this paper we discuss two hybrid devides that offer both the ultra high speed potential that is characteristic of superconducting electronics and a current gain characteristic of semiconductor technologies. The proposed hybrid devices are (or have the capacity to be) revolutionary rather than evolutionary in their capabilities and advantages as compared to the separate technologies. The device engineering of the proposed structures, and key materials and processing issues regarding the use of high Tc thin films in high speed electronics, ...