Electrical properties of contacts between head-tail coupled poly(3-hexylthiophene), PHT and Al (and Au) in planer type and sandwich type diodes of Al/PHT/Au have been studied. The contact resistances are directly evaluated by probing the potential profile of PHT between the metal electrodes using micromanipulators installed in scanning electron microscope. In the potential profile of planer type diode, a large potential cliff is observed at Al/PHT interface and some appreciable potential step is also found at PHT/Au interface. The contact resistance at the Al/PHT interface deduced from the potential profile shows the bias and its polarity dependence, indicating the existing of the Schottky like junction. At forward bias, it is found that the residual resistance at Al/PHT interface limits the diode performance. The residual resistance is supposed to be insulating layer of Al oxide. At larger reversed bias, the contact resistance at Al/PHT decreased abruptly due to the Zener breakdown. The potential profile of sandwich type diode is similar to that of planer type diode. It is found that even the PHT/Au contact shows the ohmic behavior, the contact resistance is significant as to limit the maximum current of the cells.

We have investigated the Josephson microwave self-radiation and the linewidth from different types of YBa2Cu3Oy(YBCO) grain boundary junctions: natural grain boundary junctions, step-edge junctions and bicrystal junctions. The Josephson self-rediation was directly observed using a total power radiometer receiver with receiving frequencies fREC=1.7-72 GHz. All junctions exhibited microwave self-radiation peaks with intensity of order of 10-12-10-14 W. For step-edge and bicrystal junction, they appeared at a voltage related to the Josephson frequency-voltage relation, V=n(h/2e)f, while for natural grain boundary junctions, the above relation did not hold, suggesting a Josephson medium property. For all types of junctions the observed Josephson linewidth deviated from the theoretical RSJ values due to the extra noise source in the grain boundary junction. The Josephson linewidth decreased with increasing the receiving frequency for all type of junctions. The reduction of Josephson linewidth at higher frequencies indicates that the critical current fluctuations due to a critical current spread at small bias voltages and a crystalline disorientation at the junction boundary generate an additional noise in grain boundary junctions.

High temperature superconductors are eminently suitable for use in high frequency devices because of their large energy gap. We fabricated weak link Josephson junctions connected in series. The junctions were constructed of EuBa2Cu3O7-x (EBCO) superconducting thin films on bicrystal MgO substrates. We measured their microwave broadband detection (video detection) characteristics. The responsivity (Sr) of the junctions depended on the bias current and their normal state resistance. The array junctions were effective in increasing normal state resistance. We obtained a maximum Sr of 22.6 [V/W].

In this paper, a novel Y-junction type demultiplexer utilizing a stratified-waveguide configuration in the branching region is proposed for the purpose of improving the extinction ratio. A high extinction ratio of about 20 dB is achieved at 0.6328 µm and 0.83 µm operation wavelengths both for the TE and TM modes. The properties of the new type branchig waveguides which consist of the diffused waveguide and the striploaded waveguide are described to explain the operation principle. Simulation results by the BPM are also shown to check the designed values of the waveguide parameters.

We have fabricated bi-epitaxial grain boundary junctions in YBa2Cu3O7δ (YBCO) thin films by using SrTiO3 (STO) seed layers on MgO(100) substrate. YBCO film growing over the STO seed layer has a different in-plane orientation from YBCO film without the seed layer, so artificial grain boundaries were created at the edge of the seed layer. The fabricated junctions have high Tc (up to 80 K), and constant-voltage current steps are observed in response to 12.1 GHz microwave radiation. Moreover, some of the junctions show characteristic current-voltage curves comprising not only an usual Josephson-like characteristic but also a low critical current due to the flux creep. This suggests that the two characteristic parts are likely to be connected in series at the junction region.

A Pt-based gate and photochemical dry etching were developed to fabricate N-InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT ICs. The N-InAlAs/Pt contact showed a Schottky barrier at 0.82 eV, about 0.3 eV larger than ΔEc, and nearly ideal I-V characteristics. Its main disadvantage was the excess penetration of Pt into InAlAs. We proposed a thin-Pt/Ti/Au multilayer gate, more thermally stable than the thick-Pt gate, where Ti layer suppresses the above problem with Pt. The multilayer gate also showed a Schottky barrier (φ) of 0.83 eV and an edeality dactor of 1.1. The high φ value makes it possible to fabricate an E-mode N-InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT. We also developed photochemical selective dry etching using CH3Br gas and a low-pressure mercury lamp. The etching selectivity was 25 at an etch rate of 17 nm/min for InGaAs and 0.7 nm/min for InAlAs. The 1.2-µm-gate E-mode HEMT fabricated using the Pt-based gate and photochemical etching had an excellent peak transconductance of 620 mS/mm with a threshold voltage of +0.03 V. The standard deviation of the threshold voltage of E-mode HEMTs on a 2-inch wafer was 20 mV at an average of +0.088 V. These results indicate the effectiveness of the Pt-based gate and photochemical etching for fabricating N-InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT ICs.