Researchers at NIST have developed a microchip that combines a cryogenic sensor and a microrefrigerator, enabling cheaper, faster and more precise analysis of materials. The transition-edge sensor (TES) is a superconducting thin film that identifies X-ray signatures with high precision, while the solid-state refrigerator uses a normal metal-insulator-superconductor sandwich to cool devices to 100 millikelvins.
The combined chip can provide its own cooling, allowing it to be easily integrated with a simpler refrigerator that starts at room temperature and cools down to 300 millikelvins. This setup enables the chip to operate at 100 millikelvins, a temperature typically achieved only by complex refrigeration systems.
Potential applications include cheaper semiconductor defect analysis using X-rays and faster astronomical observations with millimeter wavelength telescopes. The NIST team achieved the greatest temperature reduction in a separate object using microrefrigerators, with a 110 millikelvin temperature drop.
The research was supported by NASA and involved N.A. Miller, G.C. O’Neil, J.A. Beall, G.C. Hilton, K.D. Irwin, D.R. Schmidt, L.R. Vale and J.N. Ullom. The findings are set to be published in an upcoming issue of Applied Physics Letters.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2008/04/nist-micro-sensor-and-micro-fridge-make-cool-pair
Keywords: Cryogenic, Sensor, Refrigerator, X-ray, Superconductor
