Langmuir-Blodgett films as barrier layers in Josephson tunnel junctions

Abstract

We report the observation of the Josephson current in tunnel diodes in which the barrier is a monolayer of poly(vinyl stearate) deposited by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique. The fabrication of these diodes is described and the resulting current-voltage characteristic is given. A critical current density of 140 A cm −2 was obtained at 4.2 KK, the energy gap of the superconducting electrode was observed, and hysteretic switching behavior was obtained. The characteristic time constant was estimated and was found to be very attractive for very high speed logic applications.