Pluggable Connectors for Josephson Computers

A process has been developed for the fabrication of high density arrays of miniaturized pluggable connectors for interconnections in high performance computers using Josephson devices. Electrical contacts are made by inserting (at room temperature) arrays of metal pins, each about 200 µm long and 75 µm in diameter with a center-to-center spacing of 300 µm, into corresponding Si microsockets containing a liquid metal. Such pins and sockets have been successfully batch fabricated with high positional accuracy, using electrodischarge machining (EDM) and anisotropic etching techniques, respectively. The fabrication process is described here.