Superconductivity observed in platinum-silicon interface.

We report the discovery of superconductivity with an onset temperature of ~0.6K in a platinumsilicon interface. The interface was formed by using a unique focused ion beam sputtering microdeposition method in which the energies of most sputtered Pt atoms are ~2.5 eV. Structural and elemental analysis by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy reveal a~7 nm interface layer with abundant Pt, which is the layer likely responsible for the superconducting transport behavior. Similar transport behavior was also observed in a goldsilicon interface prepared by the same technique, indicating the possible generality of this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]