Exploring the proximity effect of thin tungsten-aluminum films for phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detectors
Abstract
Lowering the energy threshold of phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detectors is a key step toward next-generation cryogenic calorimeter arrays with large target mass and high sensitivity. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of integrating thin tungsten films, so far used for transition-edge sensors, into the fabrication of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). Here we present the results from the characterization of a single KID prototype composed of a tungsten-aluminum bilayer of respectively 15 nm and 35 nm thicknesses. The detector was successfully calibrated, and the superconducting film characteristics were measured by operating the device at different temperatures. We show that, by exploiting the proximity effect of superconductors, the device combines the relatively high critical temperature of aluminum with the large kinetic inductance contribution of tungsten. The main feature is a high kinetic inductance, which accounts for 36% of the total inductance, combined with a superconducting critical temperature of around 630 mK.
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BibTeX
@misc{castello2026exploring,
title = {{Exploring the proximity effect of thin tungsten-aluminum films for phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detectors}},
author = {G. Del Castello and M. Mancuso and A. Langenkämper and A. Bento and C. Bonomo and M. Cappelli and F. Casadei and E. Cipelli and A. Cruciani and D. Delicato and F. Dominsky and M. Folcarelli and D. Hauff and B. Mauri and C. Moore and L. Pesce and F. Petricca and F. Pröbst and D. Quaranta and M. Vignati and M. Zanirato},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.20082},
eprint = {2610.20082},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20082},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Exploring the proximity effect of thin tungsten-aluminum films for phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detectors
AU - G. Del Castello
AU - M. Mancuso
AU - A. Langenkämper
AU - A. Bento
AU - C. Bonomo
AU - M. Cappelli
AU - F. Casadei
AU - E. Cipelli
AU - A. Cruciani
AU - D. Delicato
AU - F. Dominsky
AU - M. Folcarelli
AU - D. Hauff
AU - B. Mauri
AU - C. Moore
AU - L. Pesce
AU - F. Petricca
AU - F. Pröbst
AU - D. Quaranta
AU - M. Vignati
AU - M. Zanirato
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.20082
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20082
AB - Lowering the energy threshold of phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detectors is a key step toward next-generation cryogenic calorimeter arrays with large target mass and high sensitivity. In this work, we demonstrate the feasibility of integrating thin tungsten films, so far used for transition-edge sensors, into the fabrication of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KIDs). Here we present the results from the characterization of a single KID prototype composed of a tungsten-aluminum bilayer of respectively 15 nm and 35 nm thicknesses. The detector was successfully calibrated, and the superconducting film characteristics were measured by operating the device at different temperatures. We show that, by exploiting the proximity effect of superconductors, the device combines the relatively high critical temperature of aluminum with the large kinetic inductance contribution of tungsten. The main feature is a high kinetic inductance, which accounts for 36% of the total inductance, combined with a superconducting critical temperature of around 630 mK.
ER -