Fabrication of superconducting NbN meander nanowires by nano-imprint lithography

Superconducting nanowire single photon detector(SNSPD), as a new type of superconducting single photon detector(SPD), has a broad application prospect in quantum communication and other fields. In order to prepare SNSPD with high performance, it is necessary to fabricate a large area of uniform meander nanowires, which is the core of the SNSPD. In this paper, we demonstrate a process of patterning ultra-thin Nb N films into meander-type nanowires by using the nanoimprint technology. In this process, a combination of hot embossing nano-imprint lithography(HE-NIL) and ultraviolet nano-imprint lithography(UV-NIL) is used to transfer the meander nanowire structure from the NIL Si hard mold to the Nb N film. We have successfully obtained a Nb N nanowire device with uniform line width. The critical temperature(Tc) of the superconducting Nb N meander nanowires is about 5 K and the critical current(Ic) is about 3.5 μA at 2.5 K.