Reducing the Susceptibility of Lumped-Element KIDs to Two-Level System Effects

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics Vol. 200; no. 5-6; pp. 239 - 246
• Main Authors: Hornsby, A. L., Barry, P. S., Doyle, S. M., Tang, Q. Y., Shirokoff, E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-09-2020; Springer Nature B.V; Springer
• Subjects: Amorphous materials; Amorphous silicon; Architecture; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; CMB; Condensed Matter Physics; Cosmic microwave background; Coupling; Dielectric loss; Dielectrics; Electric fields; Inductance; Instrumentation; Kinetic inductance detectors; Low temperature physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; OTHER INSTRUMENTATION; Performance degradation; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Power spectral density; Resonant frequencies; Resonators; Silicon nitride; Transmission lines; CMB; Instrumentation; Kinetic inductance detectors
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-020-02501-7

Arrays of lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors (LEKIDs) optically coupled through an antenna-coupled transmission line are a promising candidate for future cosmic microwave background experiments. However, the dielectric materials used for the microstrip architecture are known to degrade the performance of superconducting resonators. In this paper, we investigate the feasibility of microstrip coupling to a LEKID, focusing on a systematic study of the effect of depositing amorphous silicon nitride on a LEKID. The discrete and spatially separated inductive and capacitive regions of the LEKID allow us to vary the degree of dielectric coverage and determine the limitations of the microstrip coupling architecture. We show that by careful removal of dielectric from regions of high electric field in the capacitor, there is minimal degradation in dielectric loss tangent of a partially covered lumped-element resonator. We present the effects on the resonant frequency and noise power spectral density and, using the dark responsivity, provide an estimate for the resulting detector sensitivity.