A nanocryotron comparator can connect single-flux-quantum circuits to conventional electronics. (8th March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhao, Qing-Yuan; McCaughan, Adam N; Dane, Andrew E; Berggren, Karl K; Ortlepp, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Superconductor science & technology. Volume 30:Number 4(2017:Apr.)
• Publication Date: 2017-03-08
• Subjects: superconducting nanowire nanocryotron -- single-flux quantum circuit -- hybrid system; Superconductivity -- Periodicals; Superconductors -- Periodicals; 537.623
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6668/aa5f33
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-2048

Abstract

Abstract: Integration with conventional electronics offers a straightforward and economical approach to upgrading existing superconducting technologies, such as scaling up superconducting detectors into large arrays and combining single flux quantum (SFQ) digital circuits with semiconductor logic gates and memories. However, direct output signals from superconducting devices (e.g., Josephson junctions) are usually not compatible with the input requirements of conventional devices (e.g., transistors). Here, we demonstrate the use of a single three-terminal superconducting-nanowire device, called the nanocryotron (nTron), as a digital comparator to combine SFQ circuits with mature semiconductor circuits such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuits. Since SFQ circuits can digitize output signals from general superconducting devices and CMOS circuits can interface existing CMOS-compatible electronics, our results demonstrate the feasibility of a general architecture that uses an nTron as an interface to realize a 'super-hybrid' system consisting of superconducting detectors, superconducting quantum electronics, CMOS logic gates and memories, and other conventional electronics.