Improvement of chip design to reduce resonances in subgap regime of Josephson junctions

Paper i proceeding, 2009

Excess current peaks in the IV curves of SIS Josephson junctions have been observed by some groups [1–3]. These peaks have the shape of a resonance as a function of voltage. The resonances appear in the subgap regime of the junctions and the subgap current (leakage current) is concealed. The positions of the resonances do not change as a magnetic field is applied to the junctions, but their amplitude decreases when the supercurrent is suppressed. We have measured the subgap current of Al/AlOx/Al junctions and we show that these resonances are due to resonant modes in the chip design which are excited by the ac-Josephson effect. We present a chip design that decreases the amplitude of the resonances to a such degree that the subgap current is quantifiable.