Andreev reflection and enhanced subgap conductance in NbNAuInGaAs-InP junctions.pdfVIP

a r X i v : c o n d - m a t / 0 3 0 9 6 8 2 v 2 [ c o n d - m a t .m e s - h a l l ] 1 0 M a y 2 0 0 4 Andreev reflection and enhanced subgap conductance in NbN/Au/InGaAs-InP junctions I. E. Batov1,2,? Th. Scha?pers2, A. A. Golubov3, and A. V. Ustinov1 1Physikalisches Institut III, Universita?t Erlangen-Nu?rnberg, Erwin-Rommel-Str. 1, 91058 Erlangen, Germany 2Institut fu?r Schichten und Grenzfla?chen and cni - Center of Nanoelectronic Systems for Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Ju?lich, 52425 Ju?lich,Germany 3Faculty Faculty of Applied Physics, University of Twente, P. O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands (Dated: February 2, 2008) Abstract We report on the fabrication of highly transparent superconductor/normal metal/two- dimensional electron gas junctions formed by a superconducting NbN electrode, a thin (10nm) Au interlayer, and a two-dimensional electron gas in a InGaAs/InP heterostructure. High junction transparency has been achieved by exploiting of a newly developed process of Au/NbN evaporation and rapid annealing at 400?C. This allowed us to observe for the first time a decrease in the dif- ferential resistance with pronounced double-dip structure within the superconducting energy gap in superconductor-2DEG proximity systems. The effect of a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the 2DEG on the differential resistance of the interface was studied. It has been found that the reduced subgap resistance remains in high magnetic fields. Zero-field data are analyzed within the previously established quasiclassical model for the proximity effect. PACS numbers: 74.80.Fp, 73.23.-b ?Electronic address: i.batov@fz-juelich.de 1 I. INTRODUCTION The study of hybrid systems consisting of superconductors (S) in contact with a two- dimensional electron gas (2DEG) has attracted considerable interest in recent years. Various new effects arising due to the Andreev reflection at the S/2DEG interface were studied in such systems, both theoretical