Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy of Proximity Superconductivity in Epitaxial Multilayer Graphene

We report on spatial measurements of the superconducting proximity effect in epitaxial graphene induced by a graphene-superconductor interface. Superconducting aluminum films were grown on epitaxial multilayer graphene on SiC. The aluminum films were discontinuous with networks of trenches in the fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. B 2016-01, Vol.93 (4), Article 045406
Main Authors: Natterer, Fabian D, Ha, Jeonghoon, Baek, Hongwoo, Zhang, Duming, Cullen, William, Zhitenev, Nikolai B, Kuk, Young, Stroscio, Joseph A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum
Decomposition
Energy gap
Epitaxy
Graphene
Multilayers
Spectra
Superconductivity
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Summary:We report on spatial measurements of the superconducting proximity effect in epitaxial graphene induced by a graphene-superconductor interface. Superconducting aluminum films were grown on epitaxial multilayer graphene on SiC. The aluminum films were discontinuous with networks of trenches in the film morphology reaching down to exposed graphene terraces. Scanning tunneling spectra measured on the graphene terraces show a clear decay of the superconducting energy gap with increasing separation from the graphene-aluminum edges. The spectra were well described by Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory. The decay length for the superconducting energy gap in graphene was determined to be greater than 400 nm. Deviations in the exponentially decaying energy gap were also observed on a much smaller length scale of tens of nanometers.
ISSN:2469-9950
2469-9969
DOI:10.1103/physrevb.93.045406