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The interplay between superconducting fluctuations (SFs) and weak localization (WL) has been probed by temperature dependent resistance [R(T)] and magnetoresistance (MR) measurements in two-dimensional disordered superconducting TiN thin films. Within a narrow band of temperature above the transition temperature Tc, the coexistence of SFs-mediated positive MR and WL-led negative MR in different range of magnetic field, as well as a crossover from positive to negative MR with increasing temperature are reported here. The crossover temperature coincides with a characteristic temperature (Tmax) at which a resistance peak appears in the zero-field R(T). The resistance peak and the associated magnetoresistance anomalies are addressed by using the quantum corrections to the conductivity (QCC) theory. We show that WL can be accounted for the observed negative MR. By introducing individual coefficients to both SFs and WL contributions, the dominance of one over the other is monitored with respect to temperature. It is observed that just above the Tc, SF dominates and with increasing temperature, the contributions from the both become comparable and finally, at Tmax, WL takes over completely. The presented approach may be adopted to compare various quantum contributions in two-dimensional superconductors particularly in the regime where both SFs and WL are pronounced., Comment: 5 figures and 34 pages in the main manuscript

The association of quantum Griffiths singularity (QGS) to the magnetic-field-induced superconductor-metal transition predicts the unconventional diverging behaviour of dynamical critical exponent in low disorder crystalline two-dimensional superconductors. But whether this state exists in the superconducting systems exhibiting superconductor-insulator transition remains elusive. Here, we report the emergence of quantum Griffiths singularity in ultrathin disordered TiN thin films with more than two orders of magnitude variation in their normal state resistance. For both superconductor-metal transition and superconductor-insulator transition types, a diverging critical exponent is observed while approaching the quantum phase transition. Further, the magnetoresistance isotherms obey a direct activated scaling governed by an infinite-randomness fixed critical point. Finally, this work establishes the robustness of the QGS phenomenon towards a wide range of temperature and also towards a wide range of disorder strength as correlated with the normal state resistance., Comment: Accepted for publication in Communications Physics

Here, we demonstrate an interplay between superconducting fluctuations and electron-electron interaction (EEI) by low temperature magnetotransport measurements for a set of 2D disordered TiN thin films. While cooling down the sample, a characteristic temperature T* is obtained from the R(T) at which superconducting fluctuations start to appear. The upturn in R(T) above T* corresponds to weak localization (WL) and/or EEI. By the temperature and field dependences of the observed resistance, we show that the upturn in R(T) originates mainly from EEI with a negligible contribution from WL. Further, we have used the modified Larkins electron-electron attraction strength beta(T/Tc), containing a field induced pair breaking parameter, in the Maki-Thompson (MT) superconducting fluctuation term. Here, the temperature dependence of the beta(T/Tc) obtained from the magnetoresistance analysis shows a diverging behavior close to Tc and it remains almost constant at higher temperature within the limit of ln(T/Tc) < 1. Interestingly, the variation of beta(T/Tc) on the reduced temperature (T/Tc) offers a common trend which has been closely followed by all the concerned samples presented in this study. Finally, the temperature dependence of inverse phase scattering time , as obtained from the magnetoresistance analysis, clearly shows two different regimes; the first one close to Tc follows the Ginzburg-Landau relaxation rate , whereas, the second one at high temperature varies almost linearly with temperature indicating the dominance of inelastic electron-electron scattering for the dephasing mechanism. These two regimes are followed in a generic way by all the samples in spite of being grown under different growth conditions., Comment: 7 Figures and 7 Figures in Supplemental Material; Accepted for publication Phys. Rev. B

We report transport studies through Nb-based superconducting meander wires fabricated by focused ion beam (FIB) milling technique. The effect of meandering on quantum transport has been probed experimentally by a direct comparison with the pristine thin-film device before meandering. The normal metal (NM) to superconductor (SC) phase transition becomes a wide and multi-step transition by meandering. Below the transition temperature (Tc), the resistance-versus-temperature measurements reveal resistive tailing which is explained by the thermally activated phase slip (TAPS) mechanism. The TAPS fit indicates a selective region of the meander to be responsible for the resistive tailing. Besides, the phase slip (PS) mechanism in the meander is evident in its current-voltage characteristics that feature the stair-case type intermediate resistive steps during the SC-NM transition. The modulation of the intermediate resistive steps is investigated with respect to temperature and external magnetic field. It is observed that the PS events are facilitated by magnetic fields up to about 250 mT. Further, the critical current varies strongly on the temperature and magnetic field for T less than 0.5Tc and H less tahn 100 mT where it fluctuates in an oscillatory manner. Finally, Nb based meander structures can be promising candidates for future PS based studies and applications., Comment: Accepted for publication in Superconductor Science and Technology

Disorder induced phase slip (PS) events appearing in the current voltage characteristics (IVCs) are reported for two-dimensional TiN thin films produced by a robust substrate mediated nitridation technique. Here, high temperature annealing of Ti/Si3N4 based metal/substrate assembly is the key to produce majority phase TiN accompanied by TiSi2 and elemental Si as minority phases. The method itself introduces different level of disorder intrinsically by tuning the amount of the non-superconducting minority phases that are controlled by annealing temperature (Ta) and the film thickness. The superconducting critical temperature (Tc) strongly depends on Ta and the maximum Tc obtained from the demonstrated technique is about 4.8 K for the thickness range of about 12 nm and above. Besides, the dynamics of IVCs get modulated by the appearance of intermediated resistive steps for decreased Ta and the steps get more prominent for reduced thickness. Further, the deviation in the temperature dependent critical current (Ic) from the Ginzburg-Landau theoretical limit varies strongly with the thickness. Finally, the Tc, intermediate resistive steps in the IVCs and the depairing current are observed to alter in a similar fashion with Ta and the thickness indicating the robustness of the synthesis process to fabricate disordered nitride-based superconductor.

Diffusion mediated interaction in metal-substrate assembly during high temperature annealing leads to possible formation of new composite materials. Here, sputtered grown Ti films on Si3N4/Si substrate has been reported to produce titanium nitride and silicide based binary composites while undergoing high vacuum annealing process at temperatures 650{\deg}C and above. Diffusion of thermally decomposed Si and N atoms from Si3N4 and their subsequent chemical reaction with Ti have been probed by X-ray photo electron spectroscopy. For annealing at 800{\deg}C and above, most of the Si atoms show preferences to stay in elemental form rather than developing silicide phase with Ti. Whereas at lower annealing temperature, silicide becomes the dominant phase for decomposed Si atoms. However, N atoms react promptly with Ti and form TiN which appears as the majority phase for each of the studied annealing temperature. Further, the nitride and silicide phases across the films have been compared quantitatively for various annealing temperature and the maximum silicide formation is observed for the sample annealed at 780{\deg}C. Finally, the thermally anchored metal-substrate interaction mechanism can be exploited to fabricate disordered superconducting TiN films where TiSi2 and Si can be used to tune the level of disorder by altering the annealing temperature.

Here we report a novel nitridation technique for transforming niobium into hexagonal Nb2N which appears to be superconducting below 1K. The nitridation is achieved by high temperature annealing of Nb films grown on Si3N4/Si (100) substrate under high vacuum. The structural characterization directs the formation of a majority Nb2N phase while the morphology shows granular nature of the films. The temperature dependent resistance measurements reveal a wide metal-to-superconductor transition featuring two distinct transition regions. The region close to the normal state varies strongly with the film thickness, whereas, the second region in the vicinity of the superconducting state remains almost unaltered but exhibiting resistive tailing. The current-voltage characteristics also display wide transition embedded with intermediate resistive states originated by phase slip lines. The transition width in current and the number of resistive steps depend on film thickness and they both increase with decrease in thickness. The broadening in transition width is explained by progressive establishment of superconductivity through proximity coupled superconducting nano-grains while finite size effects and quantum fluctuation may lead to the resistive tailing. Finally, by comparing with Nb control samples, we emphasize that Nb2N offers unconventional superconductivity with promises in the field of phase slip based device applications.

Being one of the strongest materials, ternary TiSiN exhibits a very interesting family of binary transition metal nitride and silicide systems. A novel technique to fabricate morphologically fascinating nano and micro structures of TiSiN is reported here. The referred TiSiN films, majorly constituted with cubic TiN phase, are enriched with crystalline nanoparticles, micro-flowers and faceted micro-crystals which possess attractive functionalities towards plasmon mediated optoelectronic applications. Reactivity of titanium to silicon nitride based dielectric topping on the substrate at high temperature plays the key role in nitride formation for the demonstrated protocol. The optoelectronic response for these morphologically enriched composite films indicates an influential role of photo-induced surface plasmon polaritons on their dc transport properties. A plasmonically tuned resistive switching, controlled by the surface morphology in association with the film thickness, is observed under light illumination. Using Drudes modified frequency dependent bulk electron scattering rates and surface mediated SPPs-electron scattering rates, a generic model is proposed for addressing unambiguously the increased device resistance in response to light. The featured synthesis process opens a new direction towards the growth of transition metal nitrides while the proposed model serves as a basic platform to understand photo-induced electron scattering mechanisms in metal.

The elemental Nb is mainly investigated for its eminent superconducting properties. In contrary, we report of a relatively unexplored property, namely, its superior optoelectronic property in reduced dimension. We demonstrate here that nanostructured Nb thin films (NNFs), under optical illumination, behave as room temperature photo-switches and exhibit bolometric features below its superconducting critical temperature. Both photo-switch and superconducting bolometric behavior are monitored by its resistance change with light in visible and near infrared (NIR) wavelength range. Unlike the conventional photodetectors, the NNF devices switch to higher resistive states with light and the corresponding resistivity change is studied with thickness and grain size variations. At low temperature in its superconducting state, the light exposure shifts the superconducting transition towards lower temperature. The room temperature photon sensing nature of the NNF is explained by the photon assisted electron-phonon scattering mechanism while the low temperature light response is mainly related to the heat generation which essentially changes the effective temperature for the device and the device is capable of sensing a temperature difference of few tens of milli-kelvins. The observed photo-response on the transport properties of NNFs can be very important for future superconducting photon detectors, bolometers and phase slip based device applications.

A model binary hybrid system composed of a randomly distributed rare-earth ferromagnetic (Gd) part embedded in an s-wave superconducting (Nb) matrix is being manufactured to study the interplay between competing superconducting and ferromagnetic order parameters. The normal metallic to superconducting phase transition appears to be very sensitive to the magnetic counterpart and the modulation of the superconducing properties follow closely to the Abrikosov-Gorkov (AG) theory of magnetic impurity induced pair breaking mechanism. A critical concentration of Gd is obtained for the studied NbGd based composite films (CFs) above which superconductivity disappears. Besides, a magnetic ordering resembling the paramagnetic Meissner effect (PME) appears in DC magnetization measurements at temperatures close to the superconducting transition temperature. The positive magnetization related to the PME emerges upon doping Nb with Gd. The temperature dependent resistance measurements evolve in a similar fashion with the concentration of Gd as that with an external magnetic field and in both the cases, the transition curves accompany several intermediate features indicating the traces of magnetism originated either from Gd or from the external field. Finally, the signatures of magnetism appear evidently in the magnetization and transport measurements for the CFs with very low (less than 1 at. %) doping of Gd.

The interplay between superconductivity (SC) and ferromagnetism (FM) when embedded together has attracted unprecedented research interest due to very rare coexistence of these two phenomena. The focus has been mainly put into the proximity induced effects like, coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity, higher critical current, triplet superconductivity etc. However, very little attention has been paid experimentally to the role of magnetic constituent on triggering phase slip processes in the composite films (CFs). We demonstrate that less than 1 at. % of magnetic contribution in the CFs can initiate phase slip events efficiently. Due to advanced state-of-the-art fabrication techniques, phase slip based studies have been concentrated mainly on superconducting nanostructures. Here, we employ wide mesoscopic NbGd based CFs to study the phase slip processes. Low temperature current-voltage characteristics (IVCs) of CFs show stair-like features originated through phase slip events and are absent in pure SC films. Depending on the bias current and temperature, distinct regions, dominated by Abrikosov type vortex-antivortex (v-av) pairs and phase slip events, are observed. The results presented here open a new way to study the phase slip mechanism, its interaction with v-av pairs in two dimensions and hence can be useful for future photonic and metrological applications

One of the actual challenges of spintronics is the realization of a spin-transistor allowing to control spin transport through an electrostatic gate. In this review, we report on different experiments which demonstrate a gate control of spin transport in a carbon nanotube connected to ferromagnetic leads. We also discuss some theoretical approaches which can be used to analyze spin transport in these systems. We emphasize the roles of the gate-tunable quasi-bound states inside the nanotube and the coherent spin-dependent scattering at the interfaces between the nanotube and its ferromagnetic contacts., Comment: 35 pages, 15 figures, some figures in gif

Spintronics is an approach to electronics in which the spin of the electrons is exploited to control the electric resistance R of devices. One basic building block is the spin-valve, which is formed if two ferromagnetic electrodes are separated by a thin tunneling barrier. In such devices, R depends on the orientation of the magnetisation of the electrodes. It is usually larger in the antiparallel than in the parallel configuration. The relative difference of R, the so-called magneto-resistance (MR), is then positive. Common devices, such as the giant magneto-resistance sensor used in reading heads of hard disks, are based on this phenomenon. The MR may become anomalous (negative), if the transmission probability of electrons through the device is spin or energy dependent. This offers a route to the realisation of gate-tunable MR devices, because transmission probabilities can readily be tuned in many devices with an electrical gate signal. Such devices have, however, been elusive so far. We report here on a pronounced gate-field controlled MR in devices made from carbon nanotubes with ferromagnetic contacts. Both the amplitude and the sign of the MR are tunable with the gate voltage in a predictable manner. We emphasise that this spin-field effect is not restricted to carbon nanotubes but constitutes a generic effect which can in principle be exploited in all resonant tunneling devices., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures