Subgap conductivity in SIN-junctions of high barrier transparency

We investigate the current–voltage characteristics of high-transparency superconductor–insulator–normal metal (SIN) junctions with the specific tunnel resistance ρ ≲ 30 Ω μm2. The junctions were fabricated from different superconducting and normal conducting materials, including Nb, Al, AuPd and Cu. The subgap leakage currents were found to be appreciably larger than those given by the standard tunnelling model. We explain our results using the model of two-electron tunnelling in the coherent diffusive transport regime. We demonstrate that even in the high-transparency SIN-junctions, a noticeable reduction of the subgap current can be achieved by splitting a junction into several submicron sub-junctions. These structures can be used as nonlinear low-noise shunts in rapid-single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) circuitry for controlling Josephson qubits.