Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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TT: Fachverband Tiefe Temperaturen
TT 28: Superconducting Electronics: SQUIDs and other Josephson Circuits and Components
TT 28.12: Talk
Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 12:30–12:45, CHE/0089
Superconducting non-volatile memory device based on charge trapping in Al2O3. — •Leon Ruf1, Jennifer Koch1, Angelo Di Bernardo1,2, and Elke Scheer1 — 1Department of Physics, University of Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Germany — 2Department of Physics, University of Salerno, 84084 Salerno, Italy
Gate-controlled supercurrent (GCS) is a debated research topic. Experiments on three-terminal devices have shown that applying a gate voltage can modulate the supercurrent [1]. The authors interpret their findings as a direct electric-field effect, suggesting potential for CMOS-compatible superconducting transistors.
In contrast, other studies suggest that the observed modulation stems from a small leakage current flowing within the substrate [2,3], which can be as small as a few fA causing nonequilibrium phonons and/or electrons suppressing the supercurrent. A leakage current flowing through the substrate is typically undesirable for applications.
Here, instead, we show that the charge-trapping properties of the Al2O3 substrate can be harnessed to realize a non-volatile superconducting memory device based on the GCS effect [4]. We outline the device concept and operating principle and provide an outlook on future avenues for device optimization.
[1] De Simoni et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 802 (2018).
[2] Ritter et al., Nat. Electron. 5, 71 (2022).
[3] Basset et al., Phys. Rev. Research 3, 043169 (2021).
[4] Ruf et al., arXiv:2503.17241 (2025).
Keywords: Superconducting memory; charge trapping; Nb junction; transistor