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Very Low Resistance Al/Cu Joints for Use at Cryogenic Temperatures

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Abstract

We present two different techniques for achieving low resistance (<20 n\(\Omega \)) contacts between copper and aluminium at cryogenic temperatures. The best method is based on gold plating of the surfaces in an e-beam evaporator immediately after Ar plasma etching in the same apparatus, yielding resistances as low as 3 n\(\Omega \) that are stable over time. The second approach involves inserting indium in the Al/Cu joint. For both methods, we believe key elements are surface polishing, total removal of the aluminum oxide surface layer, and temporary application of large (typ. 11 kN) compression forces. Such contacts are not demountable. We believe the values for gold plated contacts are the lowest ever reported for a Cu/Al joint of a few \(\mathrm{cm}^{2}\). This technology could simplify the construction of thermal links for advanced cryogenics applications, in particular that of extremely low resistance heat switches for nuclear demagnetization refrigerators.

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Notes

  1. It seems surprising that, in this article from Schmitt et al., the conductance would not depend on the applied force. We suppose that this approximation is valid for their conditions, i.e. 3 kN.

  2. Very rough estimates based on measured etching rates of 7.4 nm/min for SiO\(_2\) on Si and on [39] suggest an etching rate of \(\approx \)1.5 nm/min for Al\(_2\)O\(_3\).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from the ERC StG Grant UNIGLASS No.714692 and ERC CoG Grant ULT-NEMS No. 647917. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under Grant Agreement no 824109. This work has been performed at the “Plateforme Technologique Amont” (PTA) of Grenoble.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, Institut Néel, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Sébastien Triqueneaux, Johannes Goupy, Clément Ribas, Eddy Collin & Andrew Fefferman

  2. Air Liquide Advanced Technologies 2, rue de Clémencière, BP 15 38360, Sassenage, France

    James Butterworth

  3. Charles University, Ke Karlovu 3, 121 16, Prague, Czech Republic

    David Schmoranzer

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  1. Sébastien Triqueneaux
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  2. James Butterworth
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Correspondence to Sébastien Triqueneaux.

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Appendix

Appendix

Table 3 Some of the lowest published (sorted by publication date) Cu-Cu or Cu-Al contact resistances at low temperature
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Triqueneaux, S., Butterworth, J., Goupy, J. et al. Very Low Resistance Al/Cu Joints for Use at Cryogenic Temperatures. J Low Temp Phys 203, 345–361 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-021-02575-x

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