Fabrication and characterization of hot-electron bolometers for THz applications

Superconducting properties of Nb and NbN thin films for application in diffusion and phonon cooled Hot-Electron Bolometers have been systematically investigated. The materials were sputtered on fused quartz substrates in a wide thickness range. DC-measurements of the Nb films allow us to predict the intermediate frequency bandwidth of a hot-electron bolometer mixer device for a given design. To improve the characteristics of the NbN thin films, we used a 15 nm MgO seed layer.