Characterization of low-loss hydrogenated amorphous silicon films for superconducting resonators
Abstract
Superconducting resonators used in millimeter-submillimeter astronomy would greatly benefit from deposited dielectrics with a small dielectric loss. We deposited hydrogenated amorphous silicon films using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, at substrate temperatures of 100 C, 250 C and 350 C. The measured void volume fraction, hydrogen content, microstructure parameter, and bond-angle disorder are negatively correlated with the substrate temperature. All three films have a loss tangent below 10-5 for a resonator energy of 105 photons, at 120 mK and 4-7 GHz. This makes these films promising for microwave kinetic inductance detectors and on-chip millimeter-submilimeter filters.
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